Horseradish

Armoracia rusticana

Horseradish root is hot and pungent, and the same qualities that make it the chosen accompaniment to roast beef also power its medicinal uses. It stimulates digestion, is an active eliminator of the waste products of fevers and colds, clears the sinuses and is warming for rheumatism and muscle aches.

Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) Cabbage family

Description: A perennial, which forms large patches. The leaves are dock-like, but bright green with parallel veins and wavy edges, and often full of holes from snails. In summer there may be trusses of white flowers.

Habitat: Along roadsides, on waste ground and in kitchen gardens.

Distribution: Widely naturalised except in the Scottish Highlands and western Ireland. Often a garden escape, it spreads by strong lateral roots, and is hard to remove once you have it.

Parts used: Roots.

Horseradish is this book’s example of a hot, pungent and stimulating herb. Lacking native ginger or galangal, horseradish is a good British heating herb, although the mustards have similar virtues.

Horseradish is a bit of a show-off, a hot cabbage originating in southern Russia, with large, coarse, wavy-edged leaves that glisten in the rain. It has small and pretty white flowers, but its main claim to fame is its long and sturdy white tap root. And this hides its healing secrets.

The root is the part used medicinally, as it is to make the nation’s customary sauce for roast beef. We are breaking our own rules about using roots for three reasons: horseradish is abundant, if not invasive; a few roots are all you need for a year’s supply as a standby medicine; and it regenerates quickly from the least fragment of root left behind.

It was a medicine long before it became a condiment, but works in a parallel way in both uses. The outer layer of root is beige and inoffensive but as soon as you cut into the tissues beneath you are assailed by a hot and biting smell that makes your eyes water.

In small amounts the grated root, usually preserved in vinegar or a cream sauce, lifts the gastric enzymes into overdrive to break down the cell structure of cooked beef and prevent indigestion. Note that larger amounts can inflame the stomach lining in some people.

A mustard-like oil is being created here and released, stimulating digestive and other reactions. The mucous membranes in the mouth and throat also react immediately, and the effect is wonderful for clearing blocked sinuses.

This vigorous response accounts for the use of horseradish in promoting elimination in ‘flus, fevers, coughs and catarrh. Be aware that it is an active process, with hot sweats and many tissues needed.

The cut root rubbed on stiff or aching joints and muscles will bring warmth to the skin. Rheumatic conditions can be eased using a poultice, but people with sensitive skin may react by blistering. The plant’s antiseptic and anti-microbial qualities offer relief for boils.

Do remember the root’s strength and volatility. It is not called ‘horse’, meaning ‘coarse’ or ‘rough’, for nothing. An earlier English name, red cole, is said to be because the fiery taste was like red-hot coals. John Pechey noted (1707): ‘horseradish provokes the appetite, but it hurts the head’.