National Horseradish Month

National Horseradish Month is celebrated every year in July. Some people love it (I’m in this category) and some people hate it.

Horseradish is a heavily underrated root vegetable that looks similar to ginger and whose taste can be best described as hot, spicy, peppery, and a little pungent. Horseradish is an easy way to beef up any dish and tantalize your taste buds.

This 3,000-year-old plant has been used for everything — as an aphrodisiac, a treatment for rheumatism, a bitter herb for Passover seders, and a flavorful companion to beef, chicken, and seafood. Even the Egyptians knew about horseradish as early as 1500 B.C. Early Greeks used to rub it on the lower back of patients to relieve pain.

According to legend, Delphi, the oracle, told Apollo, “The radish is worth its weight in lead, the beet its weight in silver, the horseradish its weight in gold.”

My husband and I grow horseradish in our garden (picture from last year). I use horseradish in shrimp sauce, on roast beef sandwiches, with prime rib, and even in deviled eggs (it’s delicious).

What are your favorite recipes using horseradish?