Horseradish: A Zesty Root for Health — Fire Cider Recipe Included!
Horseradish might be best known as a fiery condiment, but don’t let its bite fool you — it’s also a powerful herbal remedy with a long history of medicinal use. This hardy, pungent root offers more than just a spicy flavor to your meals: it’s packed with antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and expectorant properties that make it especially useful during the cold and flu season. Whether you’re clearing out congestion, supporting urinary health, or soothing stiff joints, horseradish is a fantastic option. In this post, we’ll cover identification and harvesting, edible and medicinal uses, along with a tried-and-true fire cider recipe to help keep you healthy throughout the year.
Basic Identification
A fast-growing perennial, horseradish can reach 2-3 feet (0.6 m to 0.9 m) tall. It produces small white flowers from May to June. The roots are medium brown and thick and fleshy on the outside. Inside, the roots are white with a spicy flavor.
Where Does It Grow? Native to Southeastern Europe and Western Asia, horseradish has also been naturalized in North America.
Harvesting
Once the tops die back in November, horseradish root can be harvested throughout winter as long as the soil isn’t frozen. It’s best to mow or cut the dried tops if still green, then use a single-row potato digger to extract the roots. Since they lose their potency quickly, store in a box of moist sand in a cool location, making sure the sand doesn’t dry out. Use freshly grated immediately as needed.
Edible Uses
Most parts of the plants are edible — root, leaves, and seeds — but the root is most commonly used.
Recipe. Fire Cider: Ingredients: ½ cup grated horseradish root, ½ cup grated ginger, ¼ cup minced onion, ¼ cup minced garlic, 1 chopped lemon (including the rind), 1 Tbsp black peppercorns, ¼ tsp cayenne pepper, and/or 2 jalapeño peppers (depends on your spice level), 1 Tbsp turmeric powder, raw honey to taste. Method: Put all the ingredients into a large quart (liter) glass jar. Fill with organic raw apple cider vinegar. Let sit for 4 to 6 weeks, strain, and store. Use within the year. I take it throughout the winter for wellness, usually about an ounce at a time.
Medicinal Uses
An outstanding antibacterial herb, horseradish can be used both internally and externally. The root is antiseptic, diuretic, stimulant, digestive laxative, and expectorant.
Here are my top 3 uses for horseradish:
Respiratory Infections, Colds, & Influenza: An excellent medicinal herb for the cold and flu season, horseradish is anti-bacterial, expectorant, and helps rid the body of excess mucus and fluids. This is why it is a core ingredient in the above fire cider recipe — it’s a great DIY remedy when contagious illness is making the rounds. Also see our Bronchial Blend and Eastern Blend in the apothecary for an extra level of support.
Urinary Tract Infections: The antibacterial and mild diuretic properties of horseradish help flush out bacteria and toxins involved with urinary tract infections.
Arthritis, Chilblains, Pleurisy: When used topically as a poultice of freshly grated root or infused massage oil, horseradish helps to ease arthritis, pleurisy, and chilblains as it brings blood to the surface of the skin, increases circulation, lowers inflammation, and encourages healing.
Safety
Those with thyroid issues or stomach ulcers should not use horseradish internally. Care should be taken when using horseradish externally, as it can cause skin irritation and blistering.
Mastering Herbal Medicine
Within the pages of The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies: The Healing Power of Plant Medicine, you’ll find 169 of the most potent medicinal plants, lichens, and mushrooms available with high-quality color photographs and detailed descriptions for easy identification — including horseradish.
This is a book for both beginners and seasoned herbalists, and covers edible and medicinal uses, harvesting instructions, a medicinal index, and much more!
This essential guide also shows you how to make tinctures, oil infusions, distillations, poultices, salves, decoctions and more right in your own home. Nature does indeed provide! Tap the link above to learn more!
Take Charge of Your Health & Self-Sufficiency
Have you ever wanted to learn more about natural remedies so that you could keep your family healthy, but didn’t know where to begin? I hear you. The world of herbalism can be overwhelming when first starting out. Because of this, I have created an online herbal academy master course that will not only teach you about medicinal plants, but also how to prepare and use them. This course was designed to instill confidence and deepen your mastery so that you know how to handle a medical situation on a day-to-day basis or in the event of a collapse where conventional prescription and over-the-counter medicines may be hard to come by. It is the same valuable knowledge our great-grandparents had that’s almost completely lost today.
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Nicole Apelian
Nicole’s Apothecary Products in this Post
Bronchial Blend Tincture
Eastern Blend Defense Tincture
