Mandy’s Horseradish

Farro Earth Champion 2025 was Mandys Horseradish Sauce. According to the judging panel; ‘This product is exactly what it says it is. Hot, sweet, tangy and textural. Judges just loved it.’ Artisan producer Mandy Steel grows horseradish on the outskirts of Christchurch, harvesting it and creating a selection of horseradish condiments.

It’s no secret that our Outstanding Producers are among the busiest operators in the country. Their rises are often meteoric, and when they receive recognition from The Awards—early on in their trajectory—it only adds fuel to the flame.

When we finally reach them to chat about their success, they are almost always at the coalface: in the shadows of a smokeshed, the bowels of a warehouse, buried beneath inventory or drowning in stickers and order forms. They could be sitting on a tractor or behind a laptop, on the way to meet a supplier, attend yet another market day or show, or, in the case of Mandy Steel and her dad Richard, nipping out to Rangiora Bakery—a spot of lunch amidst a day of cultivating the country’s premier horseradish crop.

The difference between Mandy’s Horseradish and the many other producers we interrupt during their busy schedules is that Mandy’s rise is less reminiscent of a meteor and more of a carefully controlled flame, burning at the foot of the Southern Alps.

For twenty years, Mandy has been planting, picking and hand-peeling hundreds of kilograms of horseradish. Her plot—carved from her cousin Jon’s farm in Cust, near Oxford—sits where the Upper Ashley River winds through the Canterbury Plains. "It's a good sandy loam soil," Mandy affirms, "there's a good water table underneath."

But tending what remains, commercially, a niche herb for the antipodes, requires more than just good soil and clean water. You need all the help you can get, whether beneath the dirt or above. Hot summer days, decent rains, crisp winters with frosts, and the prospect of snow, which serves as a natural fertiliser.  It's this delicate choreography of seasons that creates the pungency Mandy's customers have come to crave.

"It's a hard plant to work with," admits Mandy, "but Canterbury has good conditions. We've got the sun, we've got the rain. The winter's good for all the frost. The frosts bring out the heat of the plants."

That heat captivated our judges at this year's Awards. They described Mandy's sauce as "hot, sweet, tangy and textural," appreciating how it delivered exactly what was promised on the jar. Of course, authentic delivery is inevitable when practising a purely artisanal, hands-on approach for two decades. 

"My cousin harvests all my horseradish for me,” explains Mandy. “Then I drive up, pick it up and spend the day processing. I sit there for about three to four hours a day, hand-peeling horseradish.” These sessions often see twenty kilograms of the pungent plant pass under Mandy’s peeler. "It's terrible," she laughs. 

Made fresh to order, the peeled product goes straight into the base sauce, into jars, is chilled overnight, then sent to retailers the very next day. This unaltered process ensures the distinctive heat and flavour that has earned recognition from Cuisine Magazine, support from many of New Zealand's leading chefs, and now, the title of our 2025 Farro Earth Champion. Interestingly, it was the sponsor of this award that played a crucial role in the early years for Mandy.

“It started in 2005 with another Mandy. We started small with a few supplies because we had a small crop, and Moore Wilson's was one of our first customers. We had a couple of customers in Christchurch—that was about all, really. Then word spread that we were making horseradish. A few years later, Farro Fresh opened up, and that was really the beginning.”

Mandy remembers the moment Farro came calling—a call that many of our featured producers credit with providing the initial thrust for their ascent. "Once you get into Farro's, everybody else wants you," she explains. "They sold heaps of it to start with, and that sort of was the beginning of having distributors and customers all throughout New Zealand.”

The partnership proved pivotal, but changes still lay ahead. "In 2010, the other Mandy left the company, so I bought her out and she moved down to Wanaka. Then I continued on with my mum here in Christchurch, making horseradish sauce."

Another difference between Mandy's steady flame and the meteoric ascent of other producers lies in her biggest challenge. It's not marketing, logistics, packaging or premises, managing expansion or staff—Mandy's primary concern, after all these years, remains refreshingly singular: the horseradish itself.

"It takes twelve months to grow each plant, so it’s a long crop cycle," she explains. “Everything depends on what happens in those twelve months, and that determines what you're harvesting now. We didn't have enough rain last winter, then we've had a terrible summer without enough sun. All those elements contribute to the growth of the plant."

Indeed, this year, these challenges are more acute than ever. "At the moment—as you probably have seen—we have experienced a not-so-great year. I am only doing limited processing for the next four months. So [our horseradish sauce] might be a little bit hard to find… I'm processing once a month for the next four months, whereas I usually process every day. So it's going to be a little bit sparse."

Across three and a half acres—soon to be four—Mandy’s cousin Jon tends to 200 rows of horseradish. In a good year, each row yields roughly 120 kilograms, with harvest volumes ranging from 80 kilograms per week in quieter periods to 200 kilograms per week at Christmas time. Yet for all this production, Mandy's mum remains her only full-time employee.

To complicate matters, horseradishes don’t grow straight and perfect—they’re gnarly and twisted, and their fumes are one-hundred times more potent than an onion’s, often requiring goggles to combat.  Lightly put, this is far from a Sunday evening spent peeling potatoes over the sink. “But that's definitely something that makes this truly, truly artisanal," Mandy says. "These are genuinely hand-processed, hand-crafted ingredients."

These ingredients have helped develop a devoted following around the country of those who appreciate a good horseradish's kick. This cohort includes Richard, who advocates for spreading it on crackers, before piling them high with hot smoked salmon or adding a bit of bite to some barbecued steak. Mandy recommends pairing with traditional roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. Fortunately for them all, Mandy expects supply to return to normal by mid-October.

Looking ahead, Mandy has plans to mitigate the agricultural risks that create challenging seasons like this one. “Jon is working on planting two different patches from now on, so if something goes wrong with one of the crops, we can always rely on the next one—like a summer and a winter crop."

It's a measured expansion that reflects her steady philosophy. "At the moment, we can't keep up with demand, but I don't want to get any bigger internationally. That's a whole new ball game of getting a bigger kitchen, more staff. At the moment, it's good as it is."

If you'd like to add a bit of a horse(radish)'s kick to your breakfast, lunch or dinner, then head over to Mandy's Horseradish to see where to buy.