Radishes for a Peppery Crunch

This peppery vegetable keeps surprising us in new shapes and colors. We all know the little red beauties we slice into salads or serve as a pre-dinner nibble. Recently we’ve been seeing more of two new radishes from opposite parts of the globe. Daikon radishes are a staple of Asian cooking. They look like oversize white carrots, weigh between 1½ and 2 pounds each, are as crisp and juicy as the common red radish, and taste just as peppery yet a little sweeter, too.

Black radishes come to us from the Slavic countries of Russia, Poland, and Hungary. These radishes can be short, round, and shaped like beets; or longer but still thick, shaped much like the daikon radish. They are indeed black on the outside, but like the familiar red radish, they are crisp and white on the inside. Black radishes taste very strong but are still usually eaten raw—just never solo. Thinly slice or grate black radishes and combine them with other vegetables for slaw. Thin slices are wonderful in sandwiches of roast beef or smoked ham.