How to Harvest Horseradish

Horseradish is simple to grow in your garden, and just as easy to harvest. Once harvested, you can prepare horseradish in a number of different ways, all delicious. Horseradish adds a wonderful flavor to meats, sandwiches and salads, but it has a very strong, hot flavor, and isn't for the faint of heart.

Things You'll Need

• Pitchfork
• Sharp scissors and knife

Instructions

1. Look at the horseradish crowns before harvesting. It's best to dig horseradish roots that are at least 1 inch in diameter. Allow the smaller crowns to grow another season before harvesting.

2. Harvest horseradish in late fall when the leaves have already been killed by frost, or early in the spring when green is just barely beginning to show on the top of the crown. The flavor will be much better if the horseradish is dormant.

3. Use a pitchfork to gently loosen the soil around the horseradish, and then carefully lift the horseradish root out of the soil.

4. Shake off any dirt that remains on the horseradish. Cut off the crown about an inch above the roots with a pair of scissors or sharp knife, and trim off small roots on the side of the horseradish.

5. Add a bit of compost to the hole and replant the crown and small roots in the same spot immediately.

6. Wash the horseradish root, and allow it to dry.

7. Wrap the clean, dry horseradish root loosely in plastic and store it in the refrigerator.

Tips & Warnings

• An old gardening adage says that horseradish should never be harvested in any month that doesn't contain an "R" which excludes May through August.