Radish

Raphanus sativus

vegetable · root

A small crunchy, peppery root of a crucifer whose every part is edible; pink and long or red and round, its heat comes mostly from warmth and lack of water while growing. It provides glucosinolates.

Origin

Asia

Season (United States)

March to June · grows in your region

Preparation

The greens are eaten, in soup or pesto. Cut off the tops as soon as you get home from the market: left on, they keep drawing water from the root, which goes soft within a day. 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 glucosinolatesIn small amounts, not counted Anthocyanins · Vegetable nitrates · Vitamin CWhat slows things down Goitrogens

Did you know?

In Oaxaca, Mexico, the Night of the Radishes is celebrated every 23 December, with giant carved radishes. Herodotus claimed the builders of the Great Pyramid received a ration of them — archaeology has not confirmed it.