Veggie of the Week: Purple Heart Radish

Written by Leslie O’Neil

To kick-start the Agricultural Connections blog spot, I was hoping to feature a vegetable for Halloween and purple heart radishes just screamed “pick me, pick me!” over the potentially more obvious choices of pumpkin or squash. 

This definitely did not get published in time for Halloween but you know, life just gets in the way and the best laid plans have to be adapted! I still want to feature these beautiful radishes as they well deserve some love: And it's perfect timing to kick off the blog for 2023 since we're getting the last of the purple hearts from Boundless Farmstead in our boxes this week!

Our weekly harvest box notes act as a bit of an intro to this longer feature where I hope to expand on some of the nutrition information and cultural, historical, geographic, and botanical background of the purple heart (or purple daikon) radish. I hope y’all enjoy it as I reveal myself as a bit of a plant and food nerd!

Botany, Ecology, Growth, and Harvest:

The common radish, Raphanus sativus, is a brassica or otherwise known as a cruciferous vegetable. Brassicas also include cabbage, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower. I guess I just never think of brassicas as root vegetables – I honestly had no idea radishes were in the same family! But I never really looked into it until now either…

Radishes are annual plants and many varieties grow from seed to harvest in just 3-4 weeks. Varieties like daikon need a bit more time and are more commonly grown in late summer and early fall and harvested in late fall to be stored and eaten throughout the winter. 

Radishes grow best in sandy or loamy soil but can grow pretty much anywhere as they flower and re-seed themselves with ease – to the point that some can be invasive if you’re not careful!

 

Picked young, radishes are milder in flavor and light and crunchy in texture. Left in the ground longer, the root can get hotter and tougher. However, sunlight and temperature also affect the taste of the picked root as well: radishes grown in hotter climates will taste spicier or sharper than those grown in colder climates. 

As with so many other plants- soil, water, temperature, nutrients, and sunlight play a huge role in how the final product tastes.

Lucky for us, these roots also store very well. Whole and uncut, daikon can be kept for weeks to months through the winter depending on the temperature and humidity of your storage space.

Geography, Distribution, and Ethnobotany:

Radishes most likely originated in SE Asia but we’re not really sure about the exact origins. Many varieties have been cultivated for thousands of years and have spread around the world as they’re easy and fast growers and are full of nutrients making them desirable crops.

What we do know: the Purple Heart Radish is a variety of purple daikon radish. Purple daikons are, themselves, a variety of the more well-known white daikon radish, also called icicle radishes, oriental radishes, and Japanese radish, among many other names. Their purple color is mainly in the skin of the radish while the interior is white to pale lavender.

Daikons can be quite large as some of you may have recently experienced. While not as big as the classic white daikons, some of our beautiful purple roots were close to 4 pounds last week! That is most certainly bigger than my head (if you want a size comparison). 

{images by @AmandaPhotographic}

Flavor and Nutrition: 

Purple daikon are generally crisp with a mild to medium peppery ‘heat.’ They contain less water than other daikon varieties so they should remain crunchy to the core even when grown quite large. While edible and delicious both raw and cooked, cooking will moderate the spice of the daikon and roasting in particular will lend sweetness as it caramelizes in the oven. 

The leaves of the daikon are edible as well as the root and full of vitamin C. However, winter storage roots most likely won’t come with leaves attached.

Speaking of vitamins though: Purple daikon are great sources of fiber, vitamin C,  vitamin E, and calcium, phosphorous, and potassium. They also contain smaller but impactful amounts of vitamin B6, folate, flavonoids, the antioxidant sulforaphane, and magnesium, copper, iron, and iodine.

With all that goodness, is it any wonder why they’re eaten throughout the winter in Korea, Japan, China, India, and SE Asia!?

Cooking and Consumption:

The potential uses of purple daikon are endless! 

Purple daikon pairs well with carrots, bok choy, cabbage, mushrooms, ginger, beets, scallions, herbs like thyme, dill, parsley, or mint, and meats including fish, beef, poultry, and pork.

As with many vegetables, cooking will temper the nutrients (you’ll lose some) but it also mellows the flavor so if raw radish isn’t your favorite, cooking them can be a great way to add them into your winter veggie rotation without the bite.

Here are a few tasty suggestions:

Chunk up your daikon and roast until golden brown and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside or add it to soups or stews for added flavor and a gorgeous pop of color. Check out this dish tried by one of our wonderful Harvest Box customers and shared with me just days after she picked up her veggies: Russian Cabbage Soup

{image provided by Melissa Bluesky for her rendition of Russian Cabbage Soup from Culinary Hill using purple heart radishes in place of turnips and adding chickpeas}

More common with white daikon, purple daikon are also often pickled or fermented as kimchi – tangy and funky and sometimes spicy, kimchi is served alongside fatty or rich savory foods to help bring balance to the meal. Kimchi is great served with eggs, rice, stew, roasted meats, or stir-fry. 

If sauerkraut is more your jam than kimchi, this excellent looking “Super Green” sauerkraut recipe from Homestead and Chill uses kale, purple daikon, ginger, garlic, and turmeric instead of traditional cabbage and caraway.

{Image from the Homestead and Chill Supergreen Saurkraut blog written by DeannaCat}

One of my favorite weeknight dinners is a savory vegetable pancake: shred or grate your daikon and mix with shredded cabbage, chopped scallions, grated carrot and mix with a light batter for Korean style Yachaejeon or Japanese inspired Okonomiyaki. Serve these with your favorite hot sauce or a nice, light, sesame-ginger dipping sauce or whatever you prefer! Try this recipe for Vegan Yachaejeon from Cathryn’s Korean Kitchen.

Finally: slice your daikon thin and fry or bake for chips like you might for any root veggie.

I really hope you enjoy trying something new and maybe learned something a bit interesting!

 

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Sources (in no particular order):

1. https://naturesproduce.com/encyclopedia/purple-daikon-radish/
2. Raphanus sativus - Plant Finder - Missouri Botanical Garden
3. https://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Purple_Daikon_Radish_10538.php
4. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/daikon-radish#what-it-is
5. USDA food data central
6. NIH National Library of Medicine