With its crisp texture and distinctive bite, the summer radish adds crunch on a lazy, sweltering day. Not only is the radish a pleasure to eat, it’s an excellent source of folic acid, vitamin C and potassium. One cup of radish root chocks up a minuscule 20 calories, but its carbohydrate content fills you up fast while keeping you slim.
Growing radishes is fun and easy in almost any garden or pot of soil. They grow best in full sun and thrive in a wide variety of soils. Further, they have a very quick harvest cycle, reaching maturity in a mere 3-4 weeks.
Radishes range in color from black to scarlet to fuchsia. This makes them as visually useful as they are tasty. Every December, locals from Oaxaca, Mexico carve radishes into the shapes of religious figures and display them in the town square for the annual Noche de la Rabonos (“Night of the Radishes’) festival.
Using radishes in your Monday meals is a breeze – as a side-dish, a salad embellishment or a healthful snack. The root of the radish is most commonly eaten. But its seed pods and upper leaves make a deliciously and spicy addition to a wide variety of salads. For a real taste bud boost, throw a ½ cup of radish root into our Antipasto Salad or Brown Rice al Fresco.
