Horseradish

Cultivation of horseradish in its native area (Eastern Europe and Turkey) has been practised for at least 2000 years and the plant was referred to by Dioscorides. The Germans and Slavs were probably the first people in Europe to use it, grated in sauces and pickles, and its use as a condiment reached England between 1597 and 1640. Before this time, both the root and leaves were used universally as a medicine and it was one of the bitter herbs eaten by the Jews during Passover. John Pechy, writing in the 17th century, says of it, ‘It provokes the Appetite, but it hurts the Head.’ The prefix ‘horse’ means coarse as in horse-mint and horse-chestnut.