The Korean Radish

Many famous writers wrote about fruits and vegetables. One of my favorite is Pablo Neruda’s collection of Odes dedicated to beautiful things like “onion”, “tomato”, “spud” (potato), “orange”, “plum”, and others. In describing the beauty of these live objects we learn about their qualities that sometimes mirror human feelings. Today, I would like to write a few words about a radish.

Radishes are important root vegetables that survive the harsh winters of the four seasons weather regions. They provide fresh vitamin C to the populations that have no access to fresh vegetables during winters and early spring. They are so important that there are even fairy tales about radishes, like the famous Russian tale of a huge radish growing in the grand parents’ garden that required the entire household help to take it out and store for the winter. The help included the cat, the dog, even the important rooster, all engaged along with grandparents and grandchildren to pull the radish.

Recently, I went to a large Super market in the Claremont area, near Los Angeles that sells a large variety of items not easily found in the regular supermarkets like “Ralph’s”, ”Stater Bros” or others. Looking through the produce islands I noticed a vegetable that caught my eye. It was the first time I saw this medium-large, two-colored, oval shaped item. It looked to be about 3 to 5 inch in diameter and about 10 to 14 inch in length. I went to see what it was. The sign said it was a Korean Radish and sold by a piece. The information that it is a radish, told me it was a root vegetable.

I took it in my hand to feel it. It was compact, fairly heavy, firm with no asperities. The skin had little dimples, but it felt smooth, almost silky. The color was what actually attracted me check it out in the first place. The color starts with a light spring green at the end of the root where the leaves grow and gradually turn into an off-white color toward the opposite end where it is a small fragment of the root left. With a little imagination one could say that it looked like a little decorative pig that can go well in kitchen décor.

I bought one and brought it home. I put it on a large fruit bowl that I have occupying the counter in the kitchen. It looked very nice with the few dark green avocadoes, few Jonathan red apples, and few dried out and hardened old oranges resident in the bowl. All the shopping put away, I went to computer to lean more about the Korean radish. This is what they say: “It is a variety of the more popular Daikon radish but it is shorter, fatter, and the leaves a lot smoother. Peak season is late fall”. My radish did not have the leaves. According with this description the radish I bought it is at the end of the peak season. It is still good for me. We like radish salad at home. I did not prepare a salad yet and the radish is still decorating my fruit bowl. My son and his family are coming this weekend to go snow boarding. I plan to serve the radish as salad to them, but not before presenting it so they can wonder like I did.