When I was growing up, every time we had something with horseradish my father would always tell a single story. He was a police officer in the old days when they walked a beat. One day he had a terrible head cold.

One of the shop owners on his beat said he had something for it. He brought out a jar of horseradish and told my father to inhale. He swore it cleared his sinuses and longed to have some as hot as that again.

Over the years I tried many varieties of prepared horseradish. Nothing was anything like his description. One day I decided to try making my own so see if I could duplicate what he described.

I bought a horseradish root, peeled it and chopped it in a blender. It smelled as mild as any of the prepared horseradishes. Going through my head were ideas of adding jalapenos and such as I casually poured in the vinegar.

That was when I discovered what my father had talked about. My sinuses cleared instantly. My sinuses's sinuses cleared. My eyes teared up. I jerked away from the blender.

It took a few seconds to regain my composure and put the cover on the blender. And it was a struggle to get close to the blender. On the way out of the kitchen I turned on the exhaust fan.

And there was the secret. Commercial horseradishes are pasteurized to be bottled.

This I kept in the refrigerator in small bottles for several years without deteriorating. Whenever my father was in town to visit, I discovered another bottle of it for him. And usually he said he hadn't finished the last bottle. It was that potent.

And with that secret real horseradish style mustard. Horseradish mayonaisse without a ton of mayo. And of course a way to clear your sinuses without a pills.