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.