Sunday, October 25, 2009

Black Radish Delight

Today my dad and I took off the trellis which brought down the remaining cucumbers and the sugar snap peas. Last week's frost in conjunction with the little worms boring holes in the cucumbers have brought an end to the season at last. I'm happy with the second planting. It really only produced one large wave of cucumbers, but it was one more wave than I would have had if I didn't plant them, right? The peas never produced a pod. Peas are just a bust for me.

Thanks for your help, Dad.

We pulled two of the largest black radishes to have as an appetizer before dinner.

First, we washed them and then cut off the tops (careful, they have very small, fine hairs that can really irritate your skin) and then the bottoms.

Next, Dad cut them in half and then in thin slices.

Sprinkle them liberally with salt. The salt helps to cut the spice of the radish. If it's too salty, you can rinse off the pieces later.

It's best to put them in a bowl with a rounded bottom because the salt will draw out the water from the radish. Let the radish slices sit in the salt until they sweat like below.


Eat the slices with cheese and rye bread....I didn't have rye bread in the house and apparently offering my father white bread was sacrilegious, so he just stuck with the cheese.
Eh, these weren't really hot at all. The spring ones were much hotter. Then again, they were much larger as well. I still have 4-5 in the ground, so I'll let those grow a little longer and see if they get any bite to them. I was hoping they'd get larger than the ones in the spring, but it was too hot to sow them for a long time and some started bulbing above ground, which is a no-no, so out they came. I'll certainly plant them again this winter/spring, but only 4-5 to a sqft to let them grow as large as they can.

The morning comes early. Sweet gardening dreams.

14 comments:

  1. Blech! I think I'm about to chunder.....Yeah....EG doesn't like radishes. Blech!

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  2. My black radishes were hotter this spring too! I only planted a few this fall since I overestimated the love of radishes in my household, lol!

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  3. If you'd like to try those German blue radishes (boy do they get big) let me know and I'll get the seeds to you!

    I can manage them, but I don't love them at all. Not enough to grow them.

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  4. TOTALLY, Stefaneener!! I actually told my father about them yesterday and he asked me to find the seeds in a catalogue. That would be stellar!!

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  5. I think it is sweet that you can share this with your father.

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  6. email me your address. . . I'd love to see them grown and enjoyed.

    Bleah.

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  7. Those radishes look nice. I am growing the long rooted black ones this fall. No roots yet unfortunately!

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  8. I don't have your email address...:(

    mine is thecorneryard at ymail dot com

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  9. Thanks for the tip about the salt...I notice that when I let them get too big, they tend to get bitter on me.

    So why is is a big deal if they bulb above ground?

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  10. When mine bulb above the ground they seem to get much, much hotter and simply taste terrible. They don't have that slight bite of freshness they otherwise do. They also tend to crack and get discolored, I'm assuming from the exposure to the sun.

    These black ones can get up to baseball size without getting woody. They're great with that cheese, and the color of the black radish and the white cheese is great!

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  11. Hi Ribbit! Thanks for finding me on my house blog, and for leaving me a comment!

    I'm still here! Would you believe that I'm making another batch of tomato sauce today?

    Black radishes??? Wow!!! Never heard of them! My hubby loves radishes! Maybe I should try some for next year.

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  12. Ribbit, what variety are these black radishes?

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  13. Hey, Toni! I was just worried about you. Glad to hear you're okay. The radishes are Nero Tondo. I got them from Johnny's seeds. I didn't save any seeds, but I'm ordering them again next year if you'd like me to send you some.

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  14. Oh Ribbit, you're so kind! Thank you for worrying about me! I have to admit... it does feel good to be missed!

    I'll go ahead an order some of those black radishes! My husband just loves radishes... I'm sure that I'll go thru a whole seed pack... but thank you so much for your offer to share!!! : )

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