My search for Horseradish Root a.k.a-HAZERET.

Most everyone that I know and have met over the years uses Horseradish Root- also know as Hazeret during Passover. Specifically during the Passover Seder.

We use it for the Maror; the “Bitter Herb” due to its sharp/bitter after taste ( and while you eat it as well). We (I) also grind it up and use it for “Korech” ; the “matza sandwich” as preferred by Hillel (as told in the Haggadah). Some grind it and dip or pour it over Gefilte Fish (and extra dipping!)

Whatever you use, and whichever way you eat this, is fine with me.

However, I thought I would relate my Pre Passover experience.

Yesterday at about 8 pm, I got a message from my wife,
telling me that the market she was in did not have any Hazeret root. So I should try to find some. At the time I had just finished a good Shwarma in Lafa bread (yum!) near Kiryat Melachi, after a great touring day in the Northern Negev (Sderot,Tekuma, Nova Festival, etc).

Of course, I said I would try to find some..
One of my jobs before  Pesach is to prepare the Maror; so I definetly needed to find these roots!

Little did I know what this mission would entail.
I went to 4 locations on my way home.
Rami Levi (Kiryat Malachi/Beer Tuvia), Machsane Hashuk(Yad Binyamin); Victory (Modiin);Super Sol Sheli(Rayut). Four different cities,4 different markets .

What did I find? Slim Pickings!
Did you know that here in Israel at this time the markets are flooded with PEROZILIA (Parsnips)ROOTS?? They look extremely similar in color and shape to Horseradish Roots. White, off white, long with curves . Trouble is,they are not SHARP or BITTER; and cannot (in my opinion) be used for BITTER HERBS ! Yet, the markets here are FLOODED with these IMPOSTORS! In one store, I had to dig around thru these impostors to find one small shrink packed bag of real Hazeret. It was such a stranger to the store, that there wasn’t even a UPC label on the package. Instead it showed up as a Petrozelia Root on the Screen (which is what I paid for!)

Not to be discouraged,my search continued this morning.

Here in central Givat Zeev where I live, we have 2 supermarkets.
I went into both of them.
Again- slim pickings!
I found two small horseradish heads in one market, and one longer one in the other. Of course,both markets had stocks full of Petrozilia!

By chance I drove across our hiway to our other neighborhood known as Nevei Menachem. I went there to buy Dog Food..but that’s another story.

Before going into the Pet Store, I decided to give myself one more chance. I walked into the local Market . I looked throughout the vegetable area, found lots of Petrozilia (again), but alas no Hazeret.
As I began retracing my steps to leave, I noticed a cart with (wait for it)..packages of HAZERET! All nicely shrink wrapped packages of 4-5 large root pieces. I could not believe my eyes! The worker in the store told me that these are very healthy!

I checked the package and realized that although they are packaged in Kiryat Malachi (where I started my quest last evening), they are produce brought in from ABROAD. From Hungary! It seems Hungarians know a thing or two about growing and eating bitter herbs! (and they ain’t cheap-about 40 Shekels for a package of 5)

So there you have it.
Israel grows Horseradish, yet doesn’t seem to have enough for the markets here.
So we import from Hungary.
Maybe that’s why Hungary and Israel are such good friends!
(A little horseradish root between friends….goes a long way!)

May this friendship continue.

Hopefully in the future, Israeli farmers will grow more and more horseradish and flood the markets in time for Pesach!

But for now….we have lots and lots of Petrozillia!!

Enjoy your bitter herbs!