Recipes · Health Shot
Horseradish Lemon Kick Shot
Reader ratingsA fiery, clean-tasting shot of freshly grated horseradish steeped with lemon and a little honey — a traditional kitchen favorite when your head feels stuffy.
Grated horseradish with lemon or vinegar is a long-standing folk remedy for stuffy heads in Central and Eastern European kitchens, and the same fiery root is grated into the chrain served at Passover.
Safety
- Raw horseradish is a strong irritant of the mouth, throat and stomach lining. Skip it with stomach ulcers, gastritis, reflux or an inflammatory bowel disease flare, and stop if it brings on heartburn or stomach pain. Keep your hands away from your eyes while you grate it, and skip it if you are allergic to mustard or other cabbage-family plants.
- This is not a treatment for sinusitis. Facial pain or swelling, fever, a stuffy nose lasting more than 10 days, symptoms that get worse after improving, or pain around the eyes need a clinician.
- The fiery taste makes it unsuitable for young children. There is little safety data on a concentrated daily horseradish shot in pregnancy and breastfeeding, so ask your midwife or doctor first.
- Contains honey, so not for infants under 12 months. A shot is a small extra, not a substitute for a meal.
Why it’s good for you
Horseradish is a glucosinolate-rich root: crushing it releases allyl isothiocyanate, the pungent compound that makes your nose run, and the lemon adds vitamin C and the acidity that fixes the heat.
Evidence
Traditional use
Long history of use; little or no direct research on this preparation.
No trial has tested fresh horseradish or a horseradish shot. Horseradish and nasturtium release isothiocyanates that are antibacterial in lab tests, and a licensed, standardized horseradish-nasturtium product beat placebo for acute bronchitis symptoms in a 384-person phase IV trial. That product is a fixed herbal extract, colds and acute sinus symptoms often improve on their own, and the isothiocyanate content of a fresh-root shot is unmeasured, so this is a traditional remedy rather than a proven one.
General information from research and traditional use — not medical advice, and not a treatment for any condition. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication or managing a health condition, check with your clinician first, and seek care for symptoms that are severe or do not improve.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Open a window or turn on the extractor fan: grated horseradish gives off fumes that sting the eyes and nose like onions. Peel the root, trim the dry ends, and grate it finely on a box grater or microplane.
- Leave the grated horseradish to sit on the counter for 3 minutes. The heat develops during this time as the crushed cells mix their enzyme with the pungent compounds.
- Stir in the lemon juice and 1/2 cup cold water. The acid stops the reaction and holds the heat where it is. Cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes to infuse.
- Strain through a fine sieve or nut-milk bag, pressing the pulp, then stir the honey into the liquid until it dissolves. You should have about 3/4 cup (6 oz).
- Dip a clean spoon in and taste a drop before you pour; add a splash of cold water if it is too fierce. Pour into a sealed glass bottle and shake.
- Drink one 1 1/2 oz shot at a time, with a sip of water afterwards.
Tips
- You set the heat: for a milder shot, add the lemon juice straight after grating, and for a stronger one wait the full 3 minutes first.
- Make it fresh. It keeps 3 days in a sealed glass bottle in the fridge, but grated horseradish loses its bite quickly, so the shot gets milder each day.
- Pick a firm, pale root with no soft or green patches. Wrapped in paper and kept in the fridge, it lasts a few weeks.
- Do not waste the strained pulp: stir it into yogurt, mashed potatoes or a beet salad as a quick fresh horseradish relish.
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