Food

Getting to the Spicy Root of Horseradish

Michael Harlan Turkell

The only thing “horsey” about horseradish is the bray it elicits when clearing out your sinuses. Many assume horseradish must be related to tear-inducing wasabi, aka Japanese horseradish, but it’s not (wasabi’s a rhizome, not a root). It is, however, a distant relative of the radish—most resemblant of a daikon, though with a rougher, woody exterior. And even though wasabi and horseradish have no ties beyond the bite, horseradish sneakily finds its way into Japanese...