way too much about horseradish
So, the day before Thanksgiving, I chose to dig up and use the horseradish in the garden. I planted around 4 plants a few years ago, used 1-2 the following year, and then haven't touched them in a few years.
So, I dug up what was originally about one plant. It came out to approximately two pounds of root! I probably have around another 6-8 times that amount waiting, and possibly more since I've never really touched it for about 4 years.
So, I took about half, peeled it, and ran it through a meat grinder, added water, salt, and just a touch of vinegar, and we have some mighty nice horseradish for the next year. It made up about a quart jar full, which is quite a lot, really.
The rest I peeled and diced up, then threw into four quart jars of Svedka vodka. I've done this once before, and the result was awesome.
A little background - about 6 years ago, on a work visit to the Boston area, a friend took myself and some other coworkers to a Russian restaurant. It was a nice little place, with a bunch of vodkas. I remember the food was awesome, in particular the Borscht. But the vodka... wow. I'd never heard of horseradish vodka before, but one taste and I was hooked.
I returned there a year or so later with a friend from NJ, plus some of the same folk as the first visit. All I remember was Katie, tawny_vixen, Katie, Darren, and this trip Dana came along. We tried it, plus Darren tried some of the garlic and black pepper vodka. It was good, but the horseradish won out.
So, after some discussion, I found out that Dana had some growing in his garden. In fact, he had way too much of it, and would be happy to send me some. So, two weeks later, I get a box in the mail. Inside was a plastic bag full of dirty horseradish root. I dug in the cold hard ground, and planted it, then forgot about it.
The next spring, it came up, and grew into giant tobacco-like leaves. That fall, I dug up some, and made horseradish, and tried making horseradish vodka.
The horseradish I made came out with no heat, and tasting like woody parsnips at best. The vodka, however, was awesome.
This time around, I used a lot less vinegar, and the horseradish is excellent. The vodka is steeping away in the basement. I also did a quart of garlic, since we had some sitting around - I probably chopped up a head and a half of garlic into that quart.
I figure a couple weeks from now, I'll be back in vodka heaven.
One of the barkeeps at Tiki late one night made herself one hell of a bloody mary. Now, I've never had one I liked, but she must have known what she was doing. I think I'll have to bring in a flask of this, and ask her to make one using it. That should be awesome!
So, I dug up what was originally about one plant. It came out to approximately two pounds of root! I probably have around another 6-8 times that amount waiting, and possibly more since I've never really touched it for about 4 years.
So, I took about half, peeled it, and ran it through a meat grinder, added water, salt, and just a touch of vinegar, and we have some mighty nice horseradish for the next year. It made up about a quart jar full, which is quite a lot, really.
The rest I peeled and diced up, then threw into four quart jars of Svedka vodka. I've done this once before, and the result was awesome.
A little background - about 6 years ago, on a work visit to the Boston area, a friend took myself and some other coworkers to a Russian restaurant. It was a nice little place, with a bunch of vodkas. I remember the food was awesome, in particular the Borscht. But the vodka... wow. I'd never heard of horseradish vodka before, but one taste and I was hooked.
I returned there a year or so later with a friend from NJ, plus some of the same folk as the first visit. All I remember was Katie, tawny_vixen, Katie, Darren, and this trip Dana came along. We tried it, plus Darren tried some of the garlic and black pepper vodka. It was good, but the horseradish won out.
So, after some discussion, I found out that Dana had some growing in his garden. In fact, he had way too much of it, and would be happy to send me some. So, two weeks later, I get a box in the mail. Inside was a plastic bag full of dirty horseradish root. I dug in the cold hard ground, and planted it, then forgot about it.
The next spring, it came up, and grew into giant tobacco-like leaves. That fall, I dug up some, and made horseradish, and tried making horseradish vodka.
The horseradish I made came out with no heat, and tasting like woody parsnips at best. The vodka, however, was awesome.
This time around, I used a lot less vinegar, and the horseradish is excellent. The vodka is steeping away in the basement. I also did a quart of garlic, since we had some sitting around - I probably chopped up a head and a half of garlic into that quart.
I figure a couple weeks from now, I'll be back in vodka heaven.
One of the barkeeps at Tiki late one night made herself one hell of a bloody mary. Now, I've never had one I liked, but she must have known what she was doing. I think I'll have to bring in a flask of this, and ask her to make one using it. That should be awesome!