How to Grow and Eat Radish

Daikon radish

                Radish is one of the easiest veggies to grow, and has an additional advantage of growing very quickly so that it can be planted just about any time of year.

  It’s also fairly temperature and drought tolerant, so it can be planted early in the spring just before the last frost, all the way until autumn when it can be planted about a month (or less!) before the last frost. 

Not only do the roots grow quickly, but this tasty plant can be eaten in whole and at any stage of growth.  Even if you plant it two weeks before frost, you can still harvest the leaves for salads or cooked before the frosts come and kill it.  If you plant now, or next year any time between early spring and late August, the roots will be ready to eat in about a month.  If you forget to harvest it and it “bolts” (makes a flower stalk), the roots won’t taste good any more but the leaves and flowers are delicious. 

Before planting radish, you’ll need to select a variety.  All radishes are easy to grow, but some take somewhat more or less time to develop mature roots.  The different types do have different flavors, though all have the distintive radish flavor.  The most popular types to grow are round, French, and daikon (Japanese).  Round is the standard radish, but it does come in many colors that you can’t usually get at the grocery store: white, pink, red, purple, multi-colored... all taste about the same but make dinner more fun.  French radishes are sometimes called breakfast radishes.  They come in a few colors, and tend to be somewhat sweeter than round radishes.  They are shaped more like a carrot.  Daikon radishes are a must for Asian meals, and are traditionally white and carrot shaped.  They are spicer than regular radish, and get more spicy the more mature they get.  They can grow to mammoth proportions, especially compared to the other types of radish: I’ve even grown some that are more than a foot long without any fertilizer!

All radishes are planted similarly: the key is to make sure that they have enough room for both roots and leaves to grow.  They will need to have at least 3 to 6 inches (depending on the variety and how big you want them to get) between each mature plant.  You can either plant them at this spacing or plant them every 1-4 inches and thin the sprouts later (and eat the sprouts!).

Radish roots tell you when they’re mature by the root top bulging above soil level.  Some radishes are “runts” and won’t get as big as their neighbors no matter how long you leave them there: if it’s bulging it’s probably not going to get much bigger.  No matter how big you’re letting them get, if you want to eat the root you’ll need to pick it before it bolts.  Watch the leaves to see when this is starting to happen: instead of new baby leaves in the center of the mature leaves, you’ll see a tiny stalk forming.  This means that it’s starting to bolt: pull it out quick and eat it, or it will be too late!

When eaten fresh, they are good both raw and cooked.  If you’ve grown more than you can eat fresh, you can preserve them for winter eating by pickling or dehydrating them.

When preparing radishes, peeling is rarely if ever necessary.  This removes some of the nutrition, and good fresh radishes are delicious whole.  Here’s a few recipes to try:

Daikon Kimchee

3 lb Daikon radish, peeled

1 Tbsp Rice wine vinegar 

1 Tbsp Korean pickling salt or  1 Tbsp Light soy sauce   

3 Tbsp Korean red pepper flakes 

1 Tbsp Sesame seeds 

1 cup Garlic chives, or regular garlic

1/2 tsp Salt 

2 Cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 tsp Sugar 

Toss the julienned daikon with the pickling salt and let it stand for 5 minutes. Drain well and squeeze out excess water. Toss all the ingredients together. Put in mason jars and put lids on, but not too tight, so gas can escape. Leave them on the counter overnight, then refrigerate.

(Prodigys Recipe Exchange Newsletter by Peggy L. Makolondra, July 07, 1997)

Radish Salad

4 cups radishes, washed and sliced

1/2 cup thinly sliced onion

1 cup diced fresh tomato

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/8 tsp pepper

1 tsp finely chopped fresh basil or fresh mint

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

fresh chopped parsley for garnish

Combine sliced radishes, onion, and tomato. Whisk together the salt, garlic, pepper, basil or mint, lemon juice, and vegetable oil. Toss with salad then garnish with parsley.

(About.com)

Radish Sandwiches

1/2 cup chopped radishes (6 - 10, depending on size)

1/4 cup butter

1 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs (your choice, such as herbes de provence) or lemon zest (optional)

Salt to taste

2 Baguette slices or similarly crusty thick bread

Mix radishes, butter, and herbs/lemon.  Chill.  Spread on bread, sprinkle lightly with salt, and serve.

(recipetips.com)

Radish Greens Soup

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 potatoes, medium sized

1 onion

1 quart water or chicken broth

2 quarts radish greens - the tops from several bunches

1 lemon

Salt and pepper

Rinse greens, removing any brown or damaged areas. Coarsely chop potatoes and onion. Remove the zest (yellow part only) from the lemon, then juice the lemon.

In a large pot, heat oil and butter. Add onion and potatoes, cook for about 5 minutes. Add water or broth, the radish tops and  1 teaspoon salt. Cook until potatoes are soft and greens are wilted, about 10 minutes.

Stir in lemon juice and zest. Purée. Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot or cold.

Garnish, if desired, with a few thin slices of radish.

(recipetips.com)