I’ve looked for the variegated form for a few years. I’m not a huge fan of horseradish, but I’d find space for something as nice looking as that…
I’m sure if you’re looking for plants you could just go to a produce market and get a root and plant it.
Scott
i looked and they don’t have it but our store is small and limited to whats available. I’m sure its not i high demand either. the Frenchmen around here aren’t fond of spicy foods.
Horseradish is one of the best vegetables you can grow. I don’t do anything to it except eat the large leaves, which are way more mild than the root and fight cancer (cruciferous vegetables). It hasn’ t spread over the last 20 years except when I wanted it to.
John S
PDX OR
The variegated form doesn’t generally make consistently variegated leaves when young so I expect this is why it’s hard to find it for sale. Nurseries don’t want to deal with customers complaining about their variegated plants producing only green leaves. I sell them at my nursery, but try really hard to educate people the variegation doesn’t stabilize until they are well established and I’ve still had a couple of people contact me to say theirs isn’t producing variegated leaves (even though they hadn’t even put them in ground to get established yet).
My co-worker dug up the root he planted at our office 3 years ago and we all grabbed a head or two to start our own plants at home. I am just happy to have another perennial, no maintenance plant to grow along with the rhubarb and asparagus.
Yeah, I don’t know how often I’ll actually use my horseradish. But it’s just nice to know that it’s there waiting if I need it. And they’re nice looking plants, too!
I grow it, and in my experience it spreads like fire in rich, loose soil but behaves itself in clay. I started it in an old pumpkin patch where I had tilled in a lot of manure and grass clippings. It went nuts, spreading 15 ft in a year via runners. Five years later it stays put.
I started some last year. Bought root cuttings off Amazon first. They rotted in the ground. Then got a crown off etsy, and it blew up. Had a Massive, thick plant within a couple weeks. Was amazed how fast it grew. Didn’t spread at all (which meshes with JVD’s explaination, very clay/rock soil here), but it just peaked its head out this spring, so I’m excited. May dig it up and move it into some better prepared soil for next year (I want it to spread some).
An invasive gorgeous sun loving plant! It is beautiful if contained.
Don’t repeat my mistake! First time I tried processing horseradish I grated it by hand in my kitchen. It was like getting maced! Now I use the food processor with a lid. It will continue to build heat as it gets air exposure, so I’ll leave it in there for a minute then finish it off with vinegar which freezes the heat level. It keeps for months in the fridge like that.
If you till horseradish, you are chopping up many parts of the root and “planting them”. Many get surprised by this. I just eat off of the leaves mostly and I eat them a lot. Cruciferous vegetables like these are correlated with decreased cancer rates. I do use the root in my cocktail sauce, especially when I go crabbing.
John S
PDX OR
But the decreased rates are also independently correlated with the primary cultural group that grew them.
Horseradish in crab cocktail sauce … I’m going to try that!
Richard, what does this mean?
John S
It means the decreased cancer rates in the study were more likely due to human genetics than ingestion of horseradish.
This has been shown in innumerable studies over many years and many species of cruciferous vegetables. Besides, genetics plays a very small part in who gets cancer. Lifestyle, including diet, is what causes most cancers.
John S
PDX OR
My experience has been different.
I respect your experience. I’ve never had cancer, but all of the doctors I listen to who are checking the latest studies on this issue report this.
John S
PDX OR
This seems to be the definition of a hyperbolic statement. Could you link the peer reviewed scientific studies showing your statements to be true?
Please be careful with that line of think. While, there are many things correlated with cancer, most of the time, it’s just bad luck. Think risk reduction, rather than cancer prevention. People don’t cause their cancers. (Been through it twice, and I can rattle off the risk factors and correlation for mind - it’s thinks like few siblings, lack of preschool, and a ton of bad luck).
I have my horseradish in a large planter. Just to prevent and spreading. And it’s the secret ingredient in my crab cakes.
You’re asking me to do a tremendous amount of work. I would go to pub med or google scholar and search for cruciferous vegetables and cancer, cut and paste, and publish it back here.
I am quoting from dozens of doctors I’ve listened to over the last 20 years. Not one of them disagreed with the statement. Most said that it was a drastic understatement, with most putting it at 80/20 or 90/10 lifestyle driven.
John S
PDX OR