The Root of the Matter

Mrs. Sikma's class is studying plants and roots we eat. Students set off researching the "roots" or popular root products.

Here is some of the information we found:

The History of Horseradish from Horseradish.org
•Egyptians used horseradish as early as 1500 BC.
•Ancient Greeks used horseradish as a rub for lower back pain
•Legend has it the Delphic oracle told Apollo, "The radish is worth its weight in lead, the beet its weight in silver, the horseradish its weight in gold."
•By the late 1600s, horseradish was the standard accompaniment for beef and oysters among all Englishmen.
•Commercial cultivation in America began in the mid 1850s, when immigrants started horseradish farms in the Midwest. By the late 1890s, a thriving horseradish industry had developed in an area of fertile soil on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.
•Today, approximately 6 million gallons of prepared horseradish are produced annually in the U.S. -- enough to generously season sandwiches to reach 12 times around the world.

Facts about Jicama (reports from around the web)
•People of Latin America have been using Jicama since at least the time of the Aztecs
•Ancient people used it in fishing
•Usually peeled and eaten raw
•Gets sweeter with age
•Loses taste if stored too long