Radishes.

[Gary350]

Is anyone growing radishes? How do you eat radishes other than salads?

Farmers Co-op has packs of 1000 seeds $4.

[applestar]

Consider growing daikon radishes too! They are more dense while the regular red round ones are more watery.

Daikon is better grown in fall though since most of them can get very spicy or bolt. But I’m waiting for Korean variety that is supposed to be sweeter. there are varieties developed for growing in the “summer” as well.

When I can’t get daikon, I do use the regular little ones as substitutes and put them in soups and stews. Later maturing fall/winter daikon becomes sweet and rich with flavor in stew and matches well with fattier meats like pork or chicken thighs.

A classic in Japanese cooking and popular for warm season is to use grated daikon radish to garnish char-broiled fish. There is a special grater for this purpose that makes fine shreds. You drain excess liquid, then typically pour a bit of soy sauce over the fish and a little lump of grated radish. Daikon is also used in same way cut into very thin strands and there is a special kitchen tool for this, but Japanese chefs show off their knife skills.

It’s a pain to sub with little round radishes but ceramic ginger grater can handle the little ones pretty well.

Japanese quick radish pickles can be made by simply layering thin slices or matchstick cut pieces with salt, sugar and rice vinegar and marinating for about 2~3 hours. A little dried or fresh hot pepper flakes to taste. This is also good made in combination with matchstick or thinly sliced carrots. For making extra and longer storage, heat the sugar, salt, and vinegar to boiling, cool and then pour over the veg.

Daikon contains amino acids that helps digest fattier foods in the stomach, and is considered a prebiotic for improving your gut health.

[imafan26]

I agree. I ate regular radishes once. I did not like it. But I do like daikon. Japanese would call it a radish but my Korean friend called it a turnip. In either case depending on variety, it can be mildly bitter or very pungent. White icicle, a Chinese variety is much more pungent than Minowase.

Daikon radish can be pickled(takuan), stewed, shaved or shredded with carrots in a refrigerator pickle and then used to make a Ban Mi Sandwich. Koreans pickle radish and make kim chee, and stew it. I like it stewed. It becomes soft and sweet. It can also be julienned and added to salads as well. It can be added to ground pork and other vegetables to make pork balls to be fried or added to soups. It can be used to make dim sum turnip cake.

https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/chinese-turnip-cake

I did find a recipe for roasting radishes.
https://www.loveandlemons.com/roasted-radishes/

[pepperhead212]

I am also not crazy about radishes, except for cooking with them, like daikon, and other larger ones. This year I got a purple one from BC - Pusa Jumani.
https://www.rareseeds.com/radish-pusa-jamuni

Another one I like from them, I have grown for years, is the China Rose, which is a very cold resistant variety.
https://www.rareseeds.com/radish-china-rose

[applestar]

If you are set on getting that pack of 1000, you might consider growing radish seed sprouts on moistened seed mat (or multiple layers of paper towels or recycled cloths) placed in bottom of 1.5~2” deep black plastic seed starting tray and covered with a 2nd tray turned upside down.

They should turn out like daikon radish sprouts — called “kaiware” (split shells) because the seed leaves of radishes kind of look like bivalve seashells.

Finished by removing the “lid” and greening up the seed-leaves. Harvested like micro greens as seed leaves on long seed stem from growing in low light conditions. Somewhat spicy addition to sandwiches and salads.

[Gary350]

I have never been crazy about radishes. They are crunchy like eating carrots. My mother loved radishes she planted the red ones and the long white 1s that grow like short stubby carrots. She planted seeds in the first show and radishes were very sweet all winter until weather turned hot then radishes were too hot to eat. She claimed hot radishes taste like horse radish. I read online most people plant radishes in winter about Nov and have sweet radishes until weather turns hot about May.

Yesterday we went to a restaurant for lunch salad bar buffet. All you can eat salad bar $8. Yesterday they had thin sliced radishes and I got some on my salad. Those radishes were so good it made me start thinking about planting radishes. I think the seed pack said 45 day crop. If I buy seeds today we could have radishes to eat about April 18. We will be having warm days April 18 it is probably border line too late to plant radishes now. If I shade plants from direct sun maybe we could have good sweet radishes for 2 weeks. Maybe I buy radish seed to plant in Nov. I wonder what stew & other foods will taste like if we substitute good flavor winter radishes for carrots? Carrots have poor germination and grow very slow in winter here, radishes seeds germinate very easy. A bag of grocery store carrots is $3 it hardly seems worth the effort to grow carrots here. We have been buying a bag of carrots every other week.

Pack of 1000 radish seeds will be more than enough to plant a few seeds now then plant the rests in Nov. Just an idea.

[imafan26]

The French Breakfast radish are supposed to be sweeter. Like you, it is too hot here most of the time to get sweet radishes. Most of them, especially the common sparkler and red radish are hot and bitter.

Other crops that are bitter do mellow with cooking, so cooking them is definitely an option. Soaking in salted water or salting removes bitterness. Cooking them with something salty and sweet mellows them.

[Gary350]

Today I picked 1 French Breakfast Radish, it's 1" diameter 2" long, red outside, white inside. I ate it raw with dinner. It tastes like a white carrot that is not cooked. It is not spicy at all. These radishes are much easier to grow than carrots in the garden. Radishes like this would probably be good in soup and beef stew. I washed the soil away then cut off both ends then I ate it, I can't tell it has pealing. There are several more radishes in the garden to be picked. -7° cold for 6 days did nothing bad to the plants. Today is first time in 2 months I have been out to the garden.