Black radish

Raphanus sativus var. sativus

vegetable · root

A large winter radish with black skin and firm, very pungent white flesh; grated raw with a little salt, or sliced. It provides pungent glucosinolates.

Origin

Eastern Mediterranean

Season (United States)

October to March

Preparation

It is scrubbed; the black skin is edible but sharper, so it is often peeled. Grated raw with a little salt, which tames its bite, or cooked like a turnip. Its skin is eaten, and that is where its polyphenols sit: worth keeping, then — but under running water, rubbing it, which is what takes off most of what settles there, organic or not. The bite IS the molecule: long cooking erases it, raw and short cooking keep it. Most of its goitrogens go with cooking, even a short one.

Molecules

Pungent glucosinolatesWhat slows things down Goitrogens

Did you know?

Despite appearances, the big black radish and the little spring radish belong to the same group, from western Eurasia, between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.