Somewhere in southern Illinois lies the city of Collinsville, population 24,707, and this city has turned promotion of its horseradish industry into an art form. First, the facts – while Silver Springs in Eau Claire is the largest single grower and producer of horseradish in the world, the farmland surrounding Collinsville has the most acreage devoted to horseradish. Unlike Silver Springs, Collinsville does not produce its own horseradish products, and instead sells them to other producers (like Kraft, for example, and even Silver Springs, who supplement the local stock with Collinsville crop).

In terms of reputation, though, Collinsville has worked very hard to equate their name with horseradish. A few of their claims are a little shady; they often cite the statistic that they grow 85 percent of the world’s horseradish, while a quick check of the USDA Farm Census reveals that they grow considerably less than that in the country, much less the world. They have trademarked the moniker “World’s Horseradish Capital,” which does not require any sort of backing. Altoona could go out right now and trademark “Global Capital of Foot Fungus” without providing any evidence as to the scope or severity of their populace’s actual fungal afflictions.

Despite a few dubious claims, the city has done an incredible job of branding itself through horseradish. They host the annual International Horseradish Festival, featuring horseradish games, giant horseradish balloons, and a Little Miss Horseradish Pageant. While it all sounds a little bit like a Christopher Guest movie, you cannot type “horseradish” into an internet search engine without finding some mention of Collinsville. We spoke with Michael Pamatot, chairman of the International Horseradish Festival, to better understand just how a city throws everything they have into a creamy condiment.

Volume One: Since a lot of our readers probably aren’t familiar with Collinsville, can you give us the rough data on your city?

Michael Pamatot: Geographically, we are located 12 miles east of the arches of St. Louis. We are a community of about 25,000 people. Most of our people work in and around the St. Louis area.

V1: Just to get the numbers straight, you claim 85% of the world’s horseradish. How many acres does that translate to, and how did you come to that number?


MP: First of all, that number is what they’ve kind of told us through the years because of what we produce for the processors. Roughly, they tell me about 2,200 acres a year are planted in horseradish in this area. As far as the world’s supply, that number can be pushed up or down based on the year.

V1: You claim to be the world’s horseradish capital. Is that something you’ve registered with an international bureau of condiments?

MP: Actually, we’re registered with the trademark commission.

V1: The official title of the June horseradish festival is the International Horseradish Festival. What other countries all send delegates?

MP: We’ll probably have people from Iowa, Wisconsin – those foreign countries around us. But we have had people visit us from France and England just to see it.

V1: What else can we expect from the horseradish festival?

MP: First of all, you can see the world’s biggest horseradish balloon, which is about a 40-foot inflatable balloon. This year we’ve purchased the largest horseradish jar, a 20-foot inflatable jar. Our local growers have a special grind of horseradish just for the festival – the freshest, hottest horseradish you can buy. All of our vendors somehow put horseradish in their product. One of the most unique things I’ve ever had is horseradish ice cream. We’ve had horseradish apple pie.

V1: Horseradish ice cream, horseradish apple pie … I assume these are things people have to eat on a dare?

MP: No, I don’t think you have to be dared to eat them. We also have our horseradish Olympics with a root toss … a root sacking contest … root golf … and a root derby, like the Boy Scouts’ Pinewood Derby, except your car is made out of a horseradish root.

V1: Are you familiar with Silver Springs?  Can you comment on how awesome and amazing they are?

MP: We’d like to comment, but I was told by some of the old-time horseradish farmers that years ago we supplied Silver Springs with all of their horseradish, and then they decided they could grow it better than us. We still say we have the hottest horseradish.

V1: I heard opposite. I heard the further south you go, the more bland and fibrous the horseradish gets.

MP: That’s because you’re so cold in the wintertime, you have a lot of things to think of.

V1: That is true – it does get chilly, and we don’t have much to do.

MP: Too much inside time up there.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW!