[Sca-cooks] horseradish in period

[Huette von Ahrens]

Well, according to the Penguin Companion to Food, p. 464, "Horseradish is a native 
wild plant of Eastern and Southeastern Europe and Western Asia.  Once established, 
it is an ineradicable weed and it is now naturalized all over Europe and in the USA.  
But its westward movement seems to have been relatively recent.  There is no certain 
reference to it in classical literature.

"Much later, the 13th-century writer Albertus Magnus describes a 'raphanus' (radish)
used for medical purposes in terms which fit horseradish well.  But the German Fuchsius,
in his "Historia Stirpium" (1542), gave the first unmistakable description of horseradish
root used as a condiment, and this was repeated soon afterwards by Italian and English
authors.  An early English name was 'red cole'; this cannot have referred to the colour
of the root, which is yellowish-brown outside and white within; but may have been given
because of the fiery taste was like red-hot coals.  The name 'horseradish', which is
also old, means a radish which is 'hoarse', or coarse and strong.  The French name 
'raifort' also means 'strong root'."

Huette

--- Cat Dancer <pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com> wrote:
 
> Was horseradish as we know it--plain roots grated into vinegar--served in 
> period, or was it always mixed with something else?
> 
> Many thanks,
> 
> Margaret FitzWilliam


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