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Grated Horseradish

A condiment made by grating horseradish root and preserving it in vinegar, salt, and wax.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Horseradish and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Grated Horseradish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the horseradish

  1. Wash the horseradish root and scrape off the brown skin.

  2. Grate the horseradish using a grater.

Pickle and seal

  1. Mix 50 gallons of 35‑grain vinegar with 5 pounds of coarse sea salt.

  2. Do not use vinegar stronger than 35 grain to prevent darkening.

  3. Cork the bottle tightly and seal with wax.

  4. Melt together 2 pounds of paraffin and 1 pound of rosin to make the wax.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Horseradish + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Horseradish root
Supplies the main sharp flavor and pungency when grated.
35-grain vinegar
Adds acidity that preserves the grated horseradish and sets its sharp taste.
Paraffin
Forms the airtight wax that seals the bottle.
Rosin
Hardens the paraffin so the wax seal holds firmly.

The step that matters

Use vinegar no stronger than 35 grain. The record notes that stronger vinegar causes darkening, so the acid strength must be kept at 35 grain to keep the grated horseradish pale.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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