Passover horseradish – rooted in tradition

By Kat Kinsman and Steve Kastenbaum, CNN

(CNN)–Plenty of traditional foods pack an emotional whallop, but few of them back it up with a sensory punch as strong as horseradish’s. The pungent root is a key part of a Passover Seder plate (along with salt water-dipped vegetables, a shank bone, a hard boiled egg, a sweet paste of apples and nuts called charoset, and a bitter vegetable – often lettuce) and symbolizes the harsh lives of the Israelites before they were delivered from slavery in Egypt.

Growing horseradish is a tradition for the Schmitt family. Phillip Schmitt’s grandfather moved the family’s farming operation from New York’s borough of Queens to the Eastern end of Long Island in 1929, under protest from his own father who couldn’t believe that anyone would want to set up shop in that then-desolate region. Schmitt Family Farm found a permanent home in Riverhead, New York in the 1970s, and now Phillip and his son Matt grow 164 acres of greens (mostly spinach, collards and kale), herbs, beets and flowers – and a single acre of horseradish.

via CNN Belief Blog http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/25/passover-horseradish-rooted-in-tradition/