I love horseradish. And it's a good thing I do. I bought 3 roots 30 years ago and have not been without horseradish since. It is hard to wipe out in any spot. It is DEEP rooted. Years ago I tried to dig some out. You would need a backhoe AND you would have to sift the soil to remove ANY roots. You can leave it lying in the sun for days and if it gets covered it will start to grow again. I made the mistake of rototilling the patch after picking without realizing I still had tiny roots in the soil and EVERY one is a new horseradish plant. It is great to have but I never know where a new plant will pop up. Plan your spot carefully it WILL have horseradish for a long time. :-)

Okey-dokey. Quite a few questions here: 1. Pickling Spice is a blend of whole spices. Generally the most prevalent spice is mustard seed with varying amounts of other whole spices like cloves, cinnamon, coriander, dried red peppers, etc. You can buy Pickling Spice bottled (expensive) in the spice section of any grocery store. Some stores also carry it in bulk. Bulk, even paying online for shipping, is much cheaper. I buy in bulk and keep the excess in the freezer, but vacuum-sealing would also work. Each company offers its own proprietary blend, so sometimes you'll find one blend you like better than another. For example, Penzeys uses lots of anise, which is a bit much for my taste. But I blend that with American Spice's pickling blend and am very happy with the results. You can also blend your own pickling spice from whole spices you may already have on the shelf. I think some old threads offer some posted recipes, but if not I could provide a typical one. 2. Any pepper of any color can be safely switched for another as long as the total volume or weight remains the same. Dried peppers can always be added to that for additional color and heat. One or two can really add perk up the appearance of a jar of pickles. 3. You can always safely reduce jar size (keeping the same processing time) but you can't size up unless the recipe says you can. Sometimes a pickle will specify pints or quarts with the same processing time. Sometimes a pickle will specify increased processing time for quarts. Just follow the instructions. It would be very unusual (I can't think of any off-hand.) for a recipe to specify quarts for a relish as the mixture would be quite dense with that volume. Canning in quarts would be a mistake, but if the relish was quite liquid and used, say, 100% vinegar, I probably wouldn't worry about it. I'd just use those jars first. But if it's quite a dry mixture (something to be avoided generally) I might just toss it, especially as we're in a new season. I think that covers everything. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: Spice House Pickling Spice

In the JoP recipe, the oil is used as a "seasoning" so that the peppers will be coated as you take them out of the jar. It can easily be omitted (I don't use it) and any oil to your taste added when you open the jar. EVOO is probably better-tasting than canola and the others. Now NCHFP has a recipe for Marinated Peppers that calls for mixing the oil into the brine, but cautions that it must be "well-mixed" before putting into the jars. You don't want all the oil to end up in just a few jars. I'd stir it before you fill each jar. Not only can oil seal OUT bacteria as seysonn said, but if there is anything in the food already, it can seal it IN - the main concern being coating the peppers so that the acid doesn't penetrate, or insulating botulism spores on the surface of the food or floating in the brine. I'd much rather add oil to ANY canning recipe (pickled peppers or spaghetti sauce) when I open the jar. Hab Gold is great but doesn't use that many hot peppers. You can sub more for the bell peppers if you want it hotter. The vinegar doesn't tame the heat (it just makes it safe to BWB), but the sugar does.

Here is one I found on Epicurious. I like Linda's idea of grating your own fresh horseradish root. This is different and sounds really good. BEET HORSERADISH SAUCE Though fresh horseradish is in season around Easter, you can substitute drained bottled horseradish. We recommend using the cooked beets left over from the pickled quail egg recipe, but if you're not making the eggs, you can substitute canned beets. Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 2 hr (includes cooking beets) 1 cup finely grated peeled fresh horseradish (1/2 lb; use small teardrop-shaped holes of a box grater) 3 cooked medium beets (reserved from pickled quail eggs), peeled and coarsely chopped (1 3/4 cups) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1/4 cup cider vinegar Coarsely purée all ingredients in a food processor, scraping down side of bowl as needed, 30 to 40 seconds. Let stand, covered, at room temperature at least 1 hour (for flavors to develop). Cooks' note: Sauce can be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving. Makes about 2 cups. Gourmet Gourmet Entertains April 2004 Here is a link that might be useful: Beet Horseradish Sauce @ Epicurious