It has been described as an underground octopus and can take nine months to grow.

With its twisted roots, parsnip-like appearance and strong taste, horseradish has been around since Ancient Greece, but in Australia it's always been a rare crop.

Brian Meakins' family bought Newman's Horseradish, which processes the spicy root vegetable into a condiment, soon after World War II.

Eventually, in order to expand, Mr Meakins moved the business to the rich black soils of Langhorne Creek, south of Adelaide.

'Weirdest-looking plant'

He admits that for a vegetable, horseradish does not have a nice shape.

"Horseradish looks like a parsnip gone wrong; it's got a main tube but then it's got all these lateral roots that come out from it.

"It looks like an underground octopus and it's the weirdest-looking plant, but we can use all of it, which is the best part — you don't throw any of the lateral roots away."

Restaurants pay more for fresh horseradish that's been washed and trimmed by hand. ( Supplied: Newman's Horseradish )

Mr Meakins is one of the few commercial horseradish growers in Australia; about 50 tonnes of horseradish are produced nationwide each year.

His business contributes more than half of that total, and with a nine-month growth time, patience is required.

"It's one of those vegetables that once it's in your soil, it's there for life and it can be a pain in the neck if you don't want it there," he said.

"Most people don't want to grow a crop that takes that long to grow.

"In that time if you were planting lettuces, you could have four crops in by then."

Horseradish is collected using a modified spud harvester. ( Supplied: Newman's Horseradish )

Hot condiments

But with patience comes a pay off — horseradish sells for $10 a kilogram, and by processing it into condiments under the iconic Newman's brand, Mr Meakins has a highly viable business.

Horseradish is harvested using a modified spud harvester, before being washed and then trimmed by hand to remove any impurities.

"It's then crushed in a butcher's mincer and we make our own brand of mayonnaise, which is an old-fashioned condensed milk and vinegar mayonnaise," Mr Meakins said.

"It goes through a big blender and then it goes through our automatic bottling line, which puts out nearly 1,000 jars an hour when it's operating."

The spicy root vegetable is sold as a paste as well as fresh to chefs. ( Supplied: Newman's Horseradish )

Near the horseradish farm are grapevines that were planted in the 1990s which helps bring more people to the farm.

But horseradish remains Mr Meakins' favourite.

"To me, I quite like it. It's just been a good, stable income," he said.

"I haven't had to work overly hard on selling it and that's one of the best points of it.

"It's not like trying to sell chocolates where there's hundreds of different brands — there's not many people doing horseradish."