On Horseradish

The CFO and I had dinner out this evening and enjoyed a cut of rare prime rib with horseradish. Now that's a real balancing act, horseradish. A little too little and you loose the bite. And, a little too much and you would swear that someone has just driven an ice pick into the center of your face just above the eyes and deep into your brain. Why there? Why not into the back of your throat or maybe in your big toe? It's one of the great mysteries of life.

Horseradish is a member of the mustard family. It's cousins are kale, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, mustard, and the regular old radish. What makes it hot is an oil, isothiocyanate (CH2=CH-CH2-NCS), released when the horseradish root is ground. The good news is that the stuff is "not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans." In other words, if you eat enough horseradish, it may kill you but the scientists aren't real sure.

Folks, especially the German volk, has been eating horseradish for a very long time. In the US alone each year we eat 24 million pounds of the stuff made into 6 million gallons of prepared horseradish.

And, just to think, all it takes is one tiny pea-sized dab to drive that ice pick deep into your brain, making you absolutely certain that you are gonna die any second.

But that, too, passes. Ain't pain fun?