Genuinely hot horseradish in Canada

February 11, 2023 6:13 PM

When did horseradish get so wimpy? And where can I get some in Canada that is genuinely hot? Ideally not a zillion dollars a jar, either, but I would consider it.

The best we have found recently is the Metro house brand extra hot which is good and very cheap and often out of stock. And also not available in Vancouver where I spend much of my time. We have found the Keg extra hot at Costco to be wimpy. Also the Safeway house brand and the Coop house brand and Woodman's extra hot.

posted by jacquilynne to Food & Drink (18 answers total)

I would try grocers who cater to Japanese or orthodox Jewish communities.
posted by brujita at 6:17 PM on February 11, 2023 [4 favorites]

Farm stand where you might can get it fresh? Horseradish weakens over time
posted by toodleydoodley at 6:19 PM on February 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

If you're interested in a local source, and if you have space, horseradish is pretty easy to grow, and would be fine at your latitude. It's a perennial, so if you don't over-harvest and it's in a nice spot, it will outlast you. I've found that it's even a touch aggressive, basically asking to be harvested! I agree with the above response that fresh is best; what's more fresh than right out of the ground!? Probably could find root stock local, or buy it online, and I would guess you could start a plant off a root bought at a farmer's market, possibly even as an indoor plant.
posted by AbelMelveny at 6:58 PM on February 11, 2023 [3 favorites]

I concur with you 100%! The Farm Boy house brand is decent, if there’s a location near you.
posted by krunk at 7:01 PM on February 11, 2023

If there's a Polish store in Vancouver, that's probably the first place I would try. The Poles tend to take their horseradish pretty seriously. My Polish mother-in-law supplies me with horseradish, but she makes it herself (from the root that she buys at the grocery store). The staff at a Polish grocery store will likely have some advice.
posted by ice-cream forever at 7:01 PM on February 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

It’s not that hard to make from the root itself, and however you might feel about 'organic' foods in general, I think it’s worth seeking out organic horseradish root, because the hotness is a deterrent to things that might eat it, and if nothing is biting it in the first place, it saves resources by not getting as hot.

I think that’s true of bottled horseradish as well, and our default was Bubbie's organic, but that wasn’t as hot as home made.
posted by jamjam at 7:49 PM on February 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

There’s a really good Canadian brand of mustard called Kozlik’s that I’m always trying to find in the US (places carry one or two varieties but not all). Anyway, it looks like they make an X-Hot Horseradish that I’d bet is, indeed, hot.
posted by staggernation at 8:31 PM on February 11, 2023

(N.B. i think the description and ingredients from the wrong product, maybe a honey mustard, are listed on that page; they do have a horseradish mustard, but this is under a separate Horseradish category on the site and appears to be straight-up horseradish, not mustard.)
posted by staggernation at 8:45 PM on February 11, 2023

I would certainly consider growing your own, but a neighbour planted it in the middle of a shared gravel area and it took some killing, so give some thought to putting it in the right spot. My climate was basically the same as yours so that's not a concern. The leaves (which are quite large) have a horseradish smell to them when you brush by.

I'd also expect it to grow from seed, given it's a relative to radish, mustard and the other brassicas and they're all pretty fertile.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 9:00 PM on February 11, 2023

Most wasabi you buy is just horseradish with green food coloring. I get the stuff in a little plastic tube. It's very hot, so much so that if you inhale while eating it the vapor will burn the inside of your nose. The brand I get is Yamachu.
posted by AugustusCrunch at 9:04 PM on February 11, 2023 [4 favorites]

I buy Babci hot horseradish at my local Toronto Polish deli. It's $3.25 a bottle and can be found online for even cheaper. Comes with beets or without.
posted by dobbs at 5:31 AM on February 12, 2023 [3 favorites]

Seconding the suggestion to use wasabi (well, "wasabi") instead. I've noticed the same thing in the UK - jars of proper hot horseradish have disappeared from the shelves in favour of milder creamier sauces, while tubes of wasabi have stayed hot.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 7:37 AM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

You may be able to get Inglehoffer Extra Hot in Canada, I see stores carrying their prepared varieties.

Alternatively, buy horseradish root and grate it.
posted by snuffleupagus at 8:53 AM on February 12, 2023

If you like the Jewish stuff, with beet juice, the famous food brand is really good. In Vancouver, try going to omnitsky’s at 42 and oak, or alternatively there’s a kosher store on the Kingsway near Fraser, that sells Jewish stuff.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 9:19 AM on February 12, 2023

FWIW, I usually buy Woodman’s, and once tried the “hot” or “extra hot” version. I expected it to be spicier than “original,” and it wasn’t. It was less hot. Now I just buy “original” and am happy.

This makes so little sense to me that I suspect it might have been some one-off weirdness (or maybe the “hot” jar I bought was just super old, as suggested above), but could be worth taking into account.
posted by TangoCharlie at 7:42 PM on February 12, 2023

Beaver brand regular cream horseradish is legit spicy - we call it 'not fucking around hot' and they make an extra hot version too.
posted by ApathyGirl at 10:41 PM on February 12, 2023

If you can't find Beaver or Inglehoffer in your part of Canada, I also suggest tracking down any Eastern European import shop. Anything made for the Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, etc. market will blow the top of your head off, they're lovely (I cannot speak personally to Lithuanian, Czech, etc brands personally, but assume they are of the same munitions-grade quality)
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 11:04 AM on February 14, 2023

Response by poster: The answer to this has turned out to be a brand called Cedarvale extra hot that I get from Sobeys but is carried by a few different stores.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:47 PM on October 27, 2023 [1 favorite]