ya know, I totally forgot about passover. I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for when matzo, matzo ball soup, and pancake mixes go on sale.

There is a fish market here with the best prepared horseradish -- they buy it frozen and use it in their cocktail sauce (yum!). They also sell it frozen in its original form -- I bought some once. I've never found it to be mushy.

I did a quick search and found that they recommend freezing the roots whole.

If you can get just the root somewhere near you, buy that and freeze it. Our roots are not yet ready for harvest, either. We can go to West Side Market in Cleveland and buy the root. Sometimes I can get it in local grocery stores, also. We will buy a couple of good sized roots, and freeze one or two, then, when we run out of what we have made, we will thaw, and make more.

When you store the prepared horseradish in the refrigerator, store it upside down, so the oxygen doesn't get to the top of it. It keeps much longer that way, with out starting to darken. We usually buy a large root, and get approximately 1 quart out of it, prepared. We use a food processor outside, being sure to stand down wind while we do it!

Actually, this time of year you should be able to get horseradish roots in most markets in towns of any size. Where there's a Jew there's horseradish. :)

So, as part of the annual clean out, I just dumped my old bottle the other day. Been in the fridge forever. VERY pungent. Just a little off color from being in there open for so long. I don't know if the rumor that it loses flavor in the fridge is accurate.

I freeze mine. Grow my own. And be careful where you plant it, lol. Mine was, oh so dumb, planted near my blueberries....i just accepted the mistake and it has somewhat grown together in harmony. I freeze the whole roots when busy harvesting and lazy. Some i peel and chop in chunks, soak in vinegar 24 hrs, then freeze. Some i process coarse, some fine like cream. It freezes great. I don't find too much change in texture. But i use it in mustards and for cocktail sauces and even the finer cream gets a re-wiz in the blender.

I even freeze fresh fridge pickles when the persians are on sale all winter and my own harvest early fall. As long as you give your fresh horseradish a 24hr marinade....the purchased should freeze fine also being 'pickled'. I would remove it from the grocery glass container....may not have expansion room.

But like mentioned, it will keep a fair time in the fridge if not opened.

We planted ours in a five gallon bucket, then buried that to keep it from spreading. We had been warned about it spreading! We just wrap the roots in plastic wrap, then wrap in foil for extra freezer protection.

Yeah, I don't have my horseradish in the ground, I keep it in tall black garbage cans. I got some roots last fall, but I saved the best ones for replanting, and we are up what I harvested in a blink. That's why since the local place has good horseradish on sale, I want to pick a bunch up, so we can actually have horseradish in the house for more than a blink, lol.

Thanks for all the responses everyone... it's been very helpful so far.

Yes, we were always taught to freeze the root before gratingh/grinding so it's not so pungent. I don't see a problem with freezing the prepared horseradish.

sleevendog(5aNY): I appreciate your experience and comments. I too planted the horseradish in the garden (knowing full well how invasive it is) because I was in a hurry to get it planted somewhere. Three years later, I am STILL trying to get rid of it. I dug up a hunk today to grate, and it's far too big to use, So I am going to try freezing it. Thanks for the help!