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Eating Radish Leaves

You can eat radish leaves: They have a strong taste and are suitable for many different dishes. We give you an overview of how you can use radish greens in the kitchen.

Radish leaves often end up in the kitchen waste, but they can be used in many ways when cooking and are even healthy: like radishes themselves, they mainly contain mustard oils, which can help the body fight off bacteria and viruses. They also promote digestion.

The taste of radish leaves is strong and spicy. They can complement dishes, but also provide the main aroma. In this article we summarize what you should pay attention to if you want to eat radish leaves and in which dishes they are best used.

Eating radish leaves: You have to pay attention to this

In order for you to eat radish leaves, they should be as fresh and intact as possible. When shopping, make sure you choose a bunch of radishes with as few wilted or broken leaves as possible. Then use the green as quickly as possible. This is especially important if you want to eat the radish leaves raw, for example in the form of a salad. Then use leaves that are as young and crisp as possible. But even for recipes in which you have to puree the leaves, they should still be green and firm – wilted radish leaves have already lost a lot of their taste.

Before you process radish leaves, you should therefore first sort them. Discard wilted, yellow, or rotten specimens. Collect the fresh and green leaves in a sieve and then rinse them thoroughly under running water.

Tip: Vegetables from conventional cultivation are usually treated with chemical-synthetic pesticides, residues of which can still be found on the finished product. If you cook with radish leaves, be sure to use organic quality or use vegetables from your own garden. In our guide we will show you how easy it is to plant, care for and harvest radishes.

Eat radish leaves: raw in salads, in smoothies or as pesto

When the radish leaves are young and fresh, they taste particularly good raw. You can use them, for example, as an addition to a green salad or a wild herb salad. With their spicy taste, they are an interesting addition to other leaf salads. But you can also prepare a pure radish leaf salad. An unobtrusive dressing like a simple vinaigrette goes best with this, so that the natural flavor of the leaves is not lost.

By the way: The slight hairiness of the radish leaves can feel unusual when you eat them. If this bothers you a lot, you can make sure to use the smaller leaves for salads: they are the youngest and not as hairy.

You can also use raw radish leaves in a green smoothie instead of in a salad. However, you should also add other ingredients here so that the flavor of the leaves does not take over.

Another tasty way to use up the greens is radish leaf pesto. You can simply use our basic recipe for pesto as a guide: Make pesto yourself: Healthy recipe with simple ingredients. Use about 100 grams of radish leaves for a jar of pesto.

Eat radish leaves warm: A good substitute for spinach

You can use radish leaves in the warm kitchen in a similar way to spinach. The easiest option is to sauté them in a little oil and diced onion and garlic, if you like, until they wilt. You can get suggestions here: Cooking spinach: this is how it works. You can also prepare the radish leaves like creamed spinach or use them instead of spinach in other dishes – for example in spaghetti with spinach or a vegetarian casserole.

In addition, radish leaves are good to eat in the form of soups: you can mix smaller amounts with vegetable soups, for example. If you want to emphasize the flavor more, you can also try a radish leaf soup with few other ingredients:

To do this, sauté a bunch of radish leaves with a chopped onion in a little oil, add two chopped potatoes and pour a liter of vegetable stock over the whole thing.
Let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, then puree and season to taste.
If you like, you can top it off with some cream or a plant-based cream substitute.

Eat radish leaves as a snack

You can also eat radish leaves in the form of vegetable chips. Just follow our basic recipe: Make your own vegetable chips – this is how it works. A delicious herb quark goes well with this as a dip – if you like, you can add chopped raw radish leaves to it.

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Food

Black Radish: Cultivation, Use and Cough Syrup Recipe

Black radish tastes sharper and more aromatic than other varieties. You can grow it yourself – find out here what you need to look out for and how you can use the winter radish.

Also called winter radish, black radish is a particularly undemanding type of radish. It has a thick, mostly dark brown or almost black skin – hence its name. Inside, however, the root vegetable is white.

You can use black radish both as a food and as a home remedy for coughs. Since it is quite easy to care for, you can also plant it as a beginner when growing vegetables. To ensure that it thrives in your garden, you should follow a few tips.

How to grow black radish

Plant black radish: Depending on the species, sow the black radish from mid-June to August. You can find out the exact time from the seed packet. Preferably buy organic seeds. Proceed as follows when sowing:

First, make furrows in the soil into which you will later scatter the seeds. Keep a distance of at least 20 centimeters between the individual rows.
Now scatter the seeds in the rows of plants.
Cover round seeds very lightly with soil. If you bought a species with elongated seeds, you need to sow the seeds about two centimeters deep.
Finally, water the seeds generously.
The right location: Similar to white radish, black radish prefers full sun to half shade.

The right soil: It is best to plant black radishes where the soil is nice and loose, deep and rich in humus. Mix some compost into the soil about a month before sowing.

The right care for the black radish

Black radish is quite easy to care for. With a few tricks you will soon be able to harvest the first tubers:

Watering: Water regularly, because the black radish needs a lot of water, especially during the growth phase. Rainwater is best; you can, for example, collect rainwater.
Weeding: Black radish grows relatively slowly. To ensure that it always gets enough sunlight and water, you should regularly loosen the soil and remove weeds.
Fertilizing: If you have fertilized the soil with compost before sowing, you do not need any further fertilizer. After a month you can mix some horn shavings or other organic fertilizer into the soil if needed.
Harvest: Depending on the variety, you can harvest the first radishes after eight to thirteen weeks. It is only important that you do not leave the black radish in the ground for too long, otherwise it will become woody. First loosen the tubers with a digging fork before you pull it out of the ground.

How to use black radish

You can use black radish in different ways:

In the kitchen: Similar to the white radish, black radish is particularly popular as a raw vegetable. Peeled and finely grated, you can eat it as a radish salad or on a piece of bread. If you sprinkle it with salt, you reduce its sharpness a bit. You can also pickle black radish or cook it in vegetable soups. For example, you can replace the horseradish with black radish in this recipe: Horseradish Soup: Easy Recipe and Tasty Variations.
As a medicinal plant: Black radish contains a lot of vitamin C, mustard oils, magnesium and potassium. These and some other ingredients make it very interesting for medicinal and folk medicine. It is used there, for example, to alleviate the symptoms of rheumatism, gout and respiratory diseases.
As a cough syrup: black radish gets its typical spiciness from the mustard oils it contains. These have an antibacterial effect and can help with dry coughs, for example. Therefore, you can make an effective cough syrup from the tuber.

Black radish cough syrup recipe

For the black radish cough syrup you need:

a black radish
honey, sugar or rock candy
This is how you can use the cough syrup in the quick version:

Halve the black radish with a sharp knife.
Place both halves in front of you with the white insides facing up. If the halves wobble a bit, cut off a small piece at the bottom so they stay put.
Take a teaspoon. In the center of each half, dig a hole about two inches wide and one inch deep. You can eat the inside of the radish right away or use it in a dish.
Place each halves in a small bowl. Now put your sweetener in the hole.
Leave the bowls for a few hours until the sugar has drawn liquid out of the black radish. Then you can spoon out the cough syrup and enjoy!
Then enlarge the hole to continue using the halves.
If your black radish sits small and shriveled in the bowl, the sugar has drained all of the liquid and it’s time to discard it.

This is how you prepare the cough syrup a little more complex:

First, use a sharp knife to cut the top of the black radish straight off. The upper end must later act as a “lid”.
Now scoop out the radish with a teaspoon or knife in a cone shape. Finely chop the radish insides and set aside.
Now poke a few holes in the bottom of the radish. It is best to use a skewer or a knitting needle for this. The cough syrup later runs through these holes.
Now fill the hollowed-out radish halfway with honey and add the remaining radish pieces.
Give everything a quick stir and put the radish “lid” back on.
Place the stuffed radish on a plate or in a jar and let it sit for a few hours.
Pour the reserved syrup into a clean jar and store in the refrigerator.

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Food

Fermenting Radishes: This is How You Preserve Them

Fermenting radishes is a quick and healthy way to preserve the tubers for a few months. You also benefit from their healthy nutrients in winter. We’ll give you a simple recipe to make yourself.

If you ferment radishes, you can enjoy them all year round. Root vegetables are usually in season from May to October. That’s when the little red bulbs taste best.

By fermenting you can preserve their taste and the valuable ingredients for the other months. Radishes owe their hot note to their mustard oils. They are good for the immune system and make radishes so healthy.

Radishes originally come from Asia. However, they are also available from regional cultivation. When buying, make sure that they come from organic farming. This protects your health and the environment, since no chemical-synthetic pesticides are used.

Tip: Prefer radishes and plant radishes yourself. This can be done in the garden or on the balcony.

Fermenting radishes: How to do it

Ferment radishes quickly with this easy recipe. You need for this:

  • Cutting board and knife
  • Sterile mason jar with a capacity of 1.5 l (tip: this is how you can sterilize jars)
  • Fermentation weight: the weight is important to keep the radishes covered in liquid. Purchase special glass or ceramic weights from specialty retailers. Alternatively, use acid-resistant items. It is important that you can take the weight off easily. For example, place the weights in a reusable freezer bag. There are also weights that come with a handle so you can take them out easily.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of radishes
20 grams of salt
1 liter of water
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp mustard seeds

Directions:

Mix the salt with the water and stir until the salt is completely dissolved. Here’s how to make 2% brine.
Remove the leaves from the radishes and wash the radishes thoroughly. Tip: reuse the radish leaves to avoid wasting food.
Cut off the tops of the radishes. Optional: Halve or quarter your radishes so you can enjoy them as a snack afterwards. Of course, you can also ferment them whole.

Now put the pepper and mustard seeds in the glass. Add the radishes to weigh the spices down.
Place a fermentation weight on the radishes and top up the jar with the brine. Leave a small rim of about an inch so the jar doesn’t overflow when fermentation begins. Close your jar and label it with the contents and the date.
Store the radishes at room temperature for the first week to allow fermentation to begin. Then put them in a cool place or in the fridge for at least two weeks.
After three weeks, the radishes are fully fermented. Keep them cool and make sure they are always covered by the brine. Then the radishes will keep for a few months.
The fermented radishes taste delicious as a snack between meals and go great as a side dish with bread or in fresh salads.

Fermenting: why does it make sense?

Fermenting radishes and other foods is a traditional way of preserving fresh produce longer. As a result, important nutrients and vitamins are retained. This was particularly important in the past, when there was no imported food from the south in winter.

Fermented radishes are probiotic. This means that they contain living microorganisms that have a positive effect on the stomach and intestinal flora. The fermentation process is called lactic acid fermentation. Don’t let the name put you off. Lactic acid is formed when food begins to ferment. The product remains completely vegan. Also read: Is lactic acid vegan? You should know that.

If you want to ferment your radishes, use the right helpers. This allows you to ferment quickly and safely.

By the way: If you store your radishes properly, they will stay crisp longer. Freeze radishes to make them last longer.

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Radish: It Really is That Healthy

It is a popular kitchen vegetable because of its pungent aroma, but is radish also healthy? Here you can find out everything about the nutritional values ​​and side effects of the root.

Radish not only gives your dishes a pleasant spiciness, it is also healthy thanks to its valuable ingredients. Whether raw as a crunchy snack or in a salad: the root vegetable is a real all-rounder.

These nutrients make radish healthy

The radish owes its pungent taste primarily to the mustard oils it contains. It has been proven that these kill pathogens such as bacteria and viruses and thus play an important role in a strong immune system. They should also be able to strengthen the liver, bile and digestion. But radish contains even more substances that make it healthy.

Vitamin C: With 200 grams of radish you have already covered half of your daily vitamin C requirement. The root vegetable is therefore an important support for your body’s defences.
Vitamin B1 and B2: Your body needs vitamin B1 or thiamine to break down carbohydrates, while vitamin B2 supports various metabolic processes.
Flavonoids have a positive effect on the immune system and are said to help with certain cardiovascular diseases.
Bitter substances: In addition to mustard oils, radishes contain numerous bitter substances that have an antibiotic, cholagogue and expectorant effect.
Potassium ensures that the stimulus transmission of the muscles works properly. The mineral also has a positive effect on cell growth and blood pressure.
Sodium transmits movement impulses from the nerve tracts to the muscles. If you have a sodium deficiency, you often have to struggle with headaches and nausea.
Magnesium plays an important role in your body’s fat burning process.
Calcium is a must for strong teeth and bones and also regulates the acidity of your body.
In addition to calcium, phosphorus is one of the most important components of the skeleton and strengthens the cells.
Iron transports oxygen in the blood and strengthens your immune system.
Already knew? The mustard oil in radishes causes more bile to be produced in your liver. In this way, fat digestion is stimulated. If you suffer from bloating caused by bile problems, eating radish in moderation can provide relief. However, it is best to talk to your doctor beforehand.

Radish as a healthy fitness vegetable?

Radish is not only full of healthy ingredients, according to Austria’s public health portal, it is also very low in calories with 15 calories per 100 grams. The root vegetables also contain hardly any carbohydrates (about 2 grams per 100 grams). This makes radish a healthy low-carb snack for in between meals. To do this, you must first wash the radish thoroughly. Then cut it into thin slices and sprinkle some salt on top to draw out some of the water from the radish. Complete!

The mustard oils in radishes can bring another advantage. Their sharpness is supposed to boost fat burning and help you lose weight. Especially in the black radish you can use the mustard oils as cough syrup!

When you should give up the healthy radish

As healthy as radish is, the spicy mustard oils are not digestible for everyone. If, for example, you often complain of stomach problems after eating, you should rather eliminate radish from your diet: According to the DocJones health portal, the mustard oils in radishes can irritate your stomach lining. So it is better to switch to more stomach-friendly vegetables. Furthermore, too much radish can loudly lead to flatulence. If you have gallstones, DocJones also advises not to eat the root vegetables.

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