How hot is it? World’s biggest horseradish grower-producer is measuring ‘zing’
As president of Silver Spring Foods in Eau Claire and the fourth generation to run Huntsinger Farms, Eric Rygg runs the world’s largest grower and processor of horseradish.
Horseradish and heat go hand in hand, and Rygg has always been a bit obsessed about that. Looking to the Scoville scale to rate heat in peppers, Rygg set out to create a similar standard for horseradish.
Naturally occurring Allyl isothiocyanate produces the pop Rygg calls Zing Factor. This year, Silver Spring Foods introduced ZingMasters, a team of research scientists and experts who rate horseradish heat on a scale of 1 to 5.
Last fall, Huntsinger Farms added solar technology to operations, and that is just one of the attractions July 20-22 when they host Wisconsin Farm Technology Days, featuring more than 500 exhibitors.
Question: How did your family get into growing and processing horseradish?
Answer: My great-great-grandfather Ellis Huntsinger started the company in 1929. He was a door-to-door lightning rod salesman back in the day. I guess there are only so many repeat customers…
He ended up falling back on farming. He grew some typical crops for Eau Claire back then: corn, melons, potatoes and strawberries. And horseradish. He had some German heritage. What he realized was pretty interesting. The other crops you’d harvest and sell in the fall. Horseradish he could harvest, refrigerate and grind up and bottle and sell during winter months.
Q: Are you still the world’s largest producer of horseradish?
A: We would say we’re the world’s largest grower and processor. We may be the largest grower. We may be the largest processor. But certainly no one else does both. It is more common to do one or the other.
Q: How did a family farm in Eau Claire become such a hotspot for horseradish?
A: Eau Claire has really good conditions for growing horseradish. It does like the cold weather. In more southern regions where it is warmer and sunnier, a lot of the energy goes into growing these beautiful green leaves. We just harvest the horseradish roots …
We harvest and put it in cold storage just above freezing with almost 100% humidity. That preserves the horseradish for up to six months after harvest. We grind them as demand ramps up. That horseradish carries us until spring and the next harvest.
Q: When is horseradish season?
A: We plant and harvest simultaneously in the spring and fall. We leave the horseradish root in the ground for 12 to 18 months before we harvest it. So in September and October, we will start harvesting horseradish we planted last September and October.
Horseradish harvest is very labor intensive. We handle the roots by hand, and quite often it is still planted by hand.
Q: Does your family still live at the farm?
A: We took a piece of land where we used to grow watermelons. They take a lot of labor, so we converted it to a real estate development called Huntsinger Heights. It is right across the street from the farm. My family and I built a home here. We can literally see the family farmhouse where my mom grew up. We’re using the farmhouse now for my marketing team. It has a kitchen and courtyard, and they’re always testing new products and recipes there.
Q: Where do you see the biggest market or appetite for horseradish?
A: The biggest market for horseradish is in New York. Second is Philadelphia for highest consumption. There are other big markets in Florida, southern California and Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and there’s a big market in Chicago. It is very popular for Passover too.
Q: What do people need to know about your approach to horseradish and the recipe today?
A: We grow the (horseradish) root, clean it, grind it and mix with vinegar and salt. The same way my great-grandfather did. The recipe is the same.
Q: You recently created a team of “Zing Masters,” and you’ll be adding a Zing Factor Index to labels. What is Zing?
A: Zing is about evaluating and rating heat. It is inspired by Scoville units and how they measure peppers …
This project came from my own interest in understanding this product I grew up with and we have in abundance. In 2018, I was doing a deep dive into the chemistry of horseradish. What makes it hot? What are the components to the root? What are the best storage containers and ways to keep that heat?
We discovered all of this with years of research. It is hottest the day we grind it. Now we’re coming to the public with this Zing Factor that we call it. Our Zing Masters (a trademarked term) are taste testers who make sure the taste experience is consistent.
Q: Anything else people should know?
A: If you’re ever in a horseradish eating contest, here’s a tip. Because the heat goes airborne, the best way to mitigate is to breathe in through your nose and out through mouth. That’s a trick to handle a bigger scoop of horseradish.
Q: Are there any new products in the works?
A: We are coming out with a nonGMO horseradish. We’re launching that in 2022. The interesting thing is the roots are not genetically modified. We’re using the same variety that we have used for a hundred years. The difference is in the other ingredients.
Q: What do people need to know about Farm Technology Days, which runs July 20-22 at Huntsinger Farms?
A: It has been dubbed the Super Bowl of agriculture for the state of Wisconsin.
It has been four years of planning.
We’re putting up one of our pieces of land, about 270 acres total, most of that will be parking, but about 80 acres in the middle is the tent city where we have close to 500 exhibitors related to agriculture, industry and entertainment. It will appeal to anyone who has an interest in where their food comes from.
One of the joys I’ve had in this show is to be able to look at what is in our area. What I discovered was fascinating companies like Superior Fresh, the world’s largest aquaponics facility in the world, right here in Wisconsin.
Table Chat features interviews with Wisconsinites, or Wisconsin natives, who work in restaurants or support the restaurant industry; or visiting chefs. To suggest individuals to profile, email psullivan@gannett.com.