Finally...What to do with all those radishes!

I love planting radishes in the SFG. One square will produce a ton of radishes in just a few weeks. The kids love the quick turnaround and after it's harvested I can reuse the square for a second planting of lettuce...we love our fresh salads! Last year, everything worked great except... a day or two after radish harvest I realized that there was no way we could eat all those radishes so I did some internet research and found a recipe that looked interesting. Hubby thought I was a quack, my mom said if it was any good it'd be much more well known but I couldn't let all my "hard" work go to waste (what hard work, I plopped the seeds in and watered! LOL). So I had a go at my first canning project. And Hubby and Mom loved the outcome! Ha!

So, I wanted to share the miracle recipe with all you SFG'ers (if you don't already have it).

Rosy Radish Relish


3 cups stemmed radishes
2 large ribs celery
1 large red onion
2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 tbls mustard seed
2 tsp dill seed
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 cup vinegar
2 tbls prepared horseradish



Put the radishes, celery and onion through the coarse blade of a grinder, or chop them finely. Mix with remaining ingredients and allow to stand three hours. Bring mixture to a boil in a large pan and cook for ten minutes. Pour into hot jars, leaving half-inch head space. Adjust lids and process 1/2 pints and pints in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

I will have to try this if I end up with any extra radishes. Thanks.

Thanks for an interesting recipe. I'm intrigued and I'll have to try it. What do you serve the relish with?

Radish sandwiches are one of our favorite ways to serve radishes. Scrub the radishes well, - leave the tops and roots on, - and plunge them into a bowl of salt. Let them set until the moisture starts to draw out of them and the salt becomes damp.

Wipe the excess salt from the radishes, remove the tops and roots, and cut in thick slices. Serve on bread which has been spread with softened herbed butter. (I mix chopped parsley, dill, and chives into my butter, but you can use any herbs you like.)

The first time I made this my DH thought I was crazy, but he quickly became a fan. It makes a good afternoon snack.

For tea sandwiches, cut each slice of bread in fourths and place one radish slice between two slices of bread.

I'll have to try that! We love relishes on our summertime hot dogs or sausages. Personally, I prefer a nice relish over onions and peppers on a sausage. We have a large family (with a little bit of a competitive nature) so when we host big barbecues it's all about who brings the most interesting dish, relish, etc.

Ander, are you sure you're not French? Sliced radishes on a piece of bread with some fresh butter is a favourite appetizer in France.

Nope, just German, English, Irish, and Scots, with a little Native American thrown in for good measure, but one of our daughters lived in Cannes for a summer.

She brought home several good, simple recipes that used fresh ingredients. When I first heard about salted radishes on buttered bread I cringed. I couldn't believe how good they tasted.

Our other daughter did a semester in Australia and all she brought home was Vegemite. (Shudder, shudder.)

Anyone have a suggestion of a good variety of radish to try? I think I'd like a milder one than I had last year.

Try a French breakfast type radish, Momma -- they're oblong and fade to white at the root end. They have good flavor, but aren't as hot as the round red ones.

I like German Giant (Parat) radishes. They grow huge without getting too hot or pithy.

I think hotness can also vary due to growing conditions.

Aloha from Hawaii!

Did you know you can make soup with the radish leaves? Now you have to find a way to eat the whole plant

I make soup by sauteing the leaves in olive oil and garlic, adding a potato cut in small chunks, and cooking in broth until the potato chunks are soft. Then puree the whole thing. Delicious! Young radish leaves give a little twang to this soup, it's very pleasant. But don't use leaves from overgrown radishes, they get a bit too tough and stringy, and lose that little bite of the younger leaves.

I actually grown radishes for their leaves, as I don't like the root itself!

Enjoy!

Nadine

Aloha, Nadine,

I've used young radish leaves in salads, but never thought about making soup with them. Thanks for the idea!

(In winter I also occasionally grow radish sprouts for salads while dreaming of spring.)

Ander

How on earth did I miss this thread? WOW!

First of all, now I have to try that canning recipe!

Ander, why do you salt them first? I mean, I understand that it draws water out of the radishes, but how is that important to the sandwich?

I've never made soup with radishes, but with some of mine from this spring, I sauteed both the tuber and the greens with some garlic and butter and cracked red pepper. Really good.

Because of an overabundance of radishes I tried them in EVERYTHING and they do well. When cooked they are much more mellow and a little sweet. I added them to anything that took veggies from omelets to stews to soups to, well, everything.

I am 64 and remember eating radish sandwiches as a child. White bread, butter, and thinly sliced radishes with salt on them. Yum....however, my radishes just don't do well. They tend to get stringy and top heavy. What am I doing wrong? I have tried planting them a little deeper, but they just topple over while they are still young. And my crop right now is all chewed up with something. I can't see any bugs, but there is something happily eating away.

Where are you schafferde? I'm in the Panhandle of Florida and just planted my first round of radishes 1st week of October. This will be my first attempt at growing them...I just recently found that I liked radishes in a marinated version..

Schafferde -- it's a *very* common thing here in France to slice radishes thinly and serve them on a fresh baguette with lots of butter. It *is* good!

schafferde wrote:I am 64 and remember eating radish sandwiches as a child. White bread, butter, and thinly sliced radishes with salt on them. Yum....however, my radishes just don't do well. They tend to get stringy and top heavy. What am I doing wrong? I have tried planting them a little deeper, but they just topple over while they are still young. And my crop right now is all chewed up with something. I can't see any bugs, but there is something happily eating away.

Schafferde, when are you planting your radishes? They need cool weather to mature. I plant several succession plantings as early in spring as possible, then when summer heat hits, they stop making "bulbs" and the ones still growing get stringy and quickly inedible. I plant again in fall for late crops.

They keep a long time in the 'fridge so when summer heat comes I pick all of the radishes, cut off the tops and roots and store them in the crisper to extend the season.

Zip Code is Southern California. Probably too warm right now.

[quote="Megan"]Ander, why do you salt them first? I mean, I understand that it draws water out of the radishes, but how is that important to the sandwich?[quote]

I don't always salt them first if I have good quality radishes to begin with. I learned that technique from an Ina Garten cookbook. The salting helps to draw out any excess heat with the moisture, and it seems to improve the texture if the radish is starting to get pithy. I usually pre-salt Cherry Belle radishes in the spring, but my German Giant radishes this fall don't need anything extra done to them. They are SO good on sandwiches just as they are.

or butter with little crystals of sea salt in it. Yum.

Thanks for the responses. I do live here in southern California, and it has been very hot this summer. I planted another crop last month because we had some cool days, but then we had a heat wave again. We had 82 then 3 days later 110 then about 8 days later (after a week of hot), 78. It was 84 4 days ago, and now I will be surprised if today gets up to 70. It is making me crazy. The peas and beans don't know who is supposed to do what when.

I will put some more radishes in this week and perhaps the weather will stabilize a little.

Dee

Good luck, Dee. I am going to put in a few seeds and see if it's not too late to try around here. (And hopefully sneak in under my HOA's radar, too!) Maybe we can compare notes in a few weeks!

Your HOA won't let you have a garden? That is really unacceptable.

schafferde wrote:Your HOA won't let you have a garden? That is really unacceptable.

Well, granted, I went a bit over the top....

Hey, I was reading a book just the other day (How to store your garden produce from Piers Warren) and he states that you can also store radish by putting them in a box with layers of sand between the radish, and then put them in cool place where they don't get frozen. This way you can keep them well for several month apparently. I am not entirely sure if you could do this with every type of radish. If I understand it properly you can do this better with the bigger winter types.