How to Make Homemade Horseradish Sauce

For refrigerator storage

(Photos coming soon)

You think making and canning your own horseradish sauce is difficult or expensive?  Not at all! You won't believe how much more flavor it has than the store bought horseradish sauces. Perfect for shrimp cocktail, with prime rib or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding!

You can do it with basic equipment already in your kitchen - you just need a canning pot and a blender.  And thanks to the vinegar in horseradish sauce, you can use either a plain open water bath pot or a pressure canner (which will also let you can low acid vegetables!)

So, here's how to can horseradish sauce!  The directions are  complete with instructions in easy steps and completely illustrated.

Prepared this way, the jars have a refrigerator shelf life of about 1 or 2 months. The pungency of fresh horseradish fades within 1 to 2 months, even when refrigerated. For that reason the batch is small.

Directions for Making Canned Horseradish Sauce

Yield: about 1 pint total, usually canned in 4 four-ounce jars or 2 8-ouce jars

Ingredients and Equipment

Pickled Horseradish Sauce Recipe and Directions

Step 1 - Selecting the horseradish

The most important step!  You need horseradish that are FRESH and crisp.  Limp, old horseradish will make nasty tasting canned horseradish.  Guests will probably throw them at you.. Select firm, crisp horseradish. Remove and discard any soft, diseased, spotted and chewed up horseradish.

How much horseradish and where to get it

You can grow your own, pick your own, or buy them at the grocery store. About 3 or 4 plants with of 1-inch diameter roots makes about 4 four-ounce jars - similar to the ones in the grocery store.

Step 2 - Wash the horseradish

I'm sure you can figure out how to scrub the horseradish in plain cold or lukewarm water using your hands or a vegetable brush. Wash horseradish roots thoroughly to remove as much dirt as feasible.

 Combine ingredients and fill into sterile jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Seal jars tightly and store in a refrigerator.

Step 3 - Trim the ends and cut into smaller pieces

Cut the small roots off and with a vegetable peeler and a sharp knife, peel off brown outer skin.

Step 4 -Grate the horseradish!

I prefer to use a blender, pouring the vinegar or lemon juice in to help liquefy the roots and keep the blender moving it around. But the peeled roots may also be grated in a food processor or cut into small cubes and put through a food grinder.

Step 5 - Mix in remaining vinegar, salt and ascorbic acid.

I prefer not to use any salt, and for ascorbic acid, I use "Fruit Fresh". Just mix them up (again I do this in the blender)

Step 6 - Store the jars in the refrigerator

Just put the lids on and put them in a colder part of your fridge!

try to use them within 2 months!

 You're done!

Other Equipment:

From left to right:

1. Jar lifting tongs 
           helpful to pick up hot jars
2. Lid lifter 
           - to remove lids from the pot 
           of hot water 
3. Lid 
          - disposable - you may only 
          use them once
4. Ring 
         - holds the lids on the jar until after
         the jars cool - then you don't need them
5. Canning jar funnel
         - to fill the jars

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"Pressure canning is the only safe method for home canning vegetables. Clostridium botulinum is the bacterium that causes botulism food poisoning in low-acid foods, such as vegetables. The bacterial spores are destroyed only when the vegetables are processed in a pressure canner at 240 degrees Fahrenheit (F) for the correct amount of time.

Clostridium botulinum is the bacterium commonly found in vegetables and meats. It is harmless until it finds itself in a moist, low-acid, oxygen-free environment or a partial vacuum. Under these conditions, the bacterium can grow and produce toxins dangerous to people and animals.

Do not process (low acid) vegetables using the boiling water bath because the botulinum bacteria can survive that method.

Can fruits and vegetables be canned without heating if aspirin is used? No. Aspirin should not be used in canning. It cannot be relied on to prevent spoilage or to give satisfactory products. Adequate heat treatment is the only safe procedure.

Is it safe to can horseradish in a boiling water bath if vinegar is used? No. Recommended processing methods must be used to assure safety. Recommended processing times cannot be shortened if vinegar is used in canning fresh vegetables. (This does not refer to pickled vegetables.)

Salt and sugar are not preservatives for vegetables: they are added to stabilize and improve flavor, but will not prevent spoilage.

Salicylic acid is also NOT a preservative. The University of Illinois reports:

Using Aspirin for Canning

Several years ago, a recipe circulated using aspirin to acidify tomatoes and horseradish for canning. Aspirin is not recommended for canning. While it contains salicylic acid, it does not sufficiently acidify tomatoes or horseradish for safe hot water bath canning. horseradish are low acid foods and may only be processed safely in a pressure canner. Lemon juice or vinegar is recommended to acidify tomato products for safe water bath processing.

Think of it like smoking.  We all know someone who smoke their entire life and lived to be 90.  But the cemeteries are filled with the vast majority who didn't.  You'll hear people say "my grandmother did it that way for 20 years".  But of course, the people who died from food poisoning aren't around and often didn't have descendents to tell their tale...

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This page was updated on 5-Jul-2008

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