FOOD & ENVIRONMENT Horseradish - Not a Radish at All! Contributed by Kendahl Damashek Source: http://diy-dev.archer-soft.com/node/23986/edit
While Ashkenazi Jews commonly use horseradish or Romaine lettuce as bitter herbs, Sephardic families use green onions or curly parsley. Horseradish, a native crop to southeastern Europe, became the bitter herb of choice for most Ashkenazic Seders because of its prominence in that region. Though horseradish has been around for 3,000 years, until the sixteenth century it was used exclusively for medicinal purposes. Legend has it that the Delphic oracle told Apollo, “The radish is worth its weight in lead, the beet its weight in silver, the horseradish its weight in gold.” Packing more vitamin C than an orange, as well as potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin K and mustard oil, the horseradish was used to cure everything from a toothache to cancer, from asthma to tuberculosis. Horseradish was even recommended as a cure for freckles! Despite its name, horseradish is not in the radish family. This root vegetable is actually in the same plant family as mustard, wasabi, broccoli and cabbage. Grated horseradish must be stored in vinegar, or it will lose its pungent taste and become bitter. Red horseradish is simply regular horseradish that has been grated and preserved with beets or beet juice (another root vegetable readily available in southeastern Europe). If you’re looking for an opportunity to have a mid-Seder stretch, consider going into the kitchen and making your own Maror now, with a horseradish root (purchased in advance of the Seder). Peel the horseradish as you would ginger, chop it into large chunks and then grate it in a food processor. Add a bit of vinegar to the food processor to hold in the intense flavor, and keep the mixture together. (Whole-grain vinegar is not Kosher for Passover, but apple cider vinegar can be used instead.) Very pungent and highly aromatic, freshly shredded horseradish has a flavor much edgier than the store-bought variety, so be sure everyone’s water glasses are full, and let the sinus-clearing begin! (Keep an eye on your freckle-faced relatives.)