diakon radish

[amyinowasso]

I can't find the conversation about daikon radish, so, I started a new thread. Do we have a root crop category? www.wandercooks.com/takuan-yellow-pickled-radish/

[chrysanthemum]

I’m not sure that we have had an actual Daikon Radish thread (until this one, that is). I talk about them some in a cover crop thread because I have grown them to try to get some roots down into the hardpan below my raised beds. I think woodeye grows them mixed in with other plants in grow bags perhaps.

We enjoy using Daikon along with Napa Cabbage, green onions, carrots, ginger, garlic, and some hot peppers to make fermented kimchi.

I haven’t planted any this fall, though I have been thinking of getting a bed started with both Daikon and Napa.

[heavyhitterokra]

Amyinowasso,

We have one now. Thanks, for starting this thread, we'll enjoy it I'm sure. Daikon Radishes are fun to grow! I've never seen them pickled before, that sounds like a wonderful way to enjoy them even more.

[woodeye]

I haven't grown Daikon radishes, but I'm interested in them. I looked for seeds online and there are several varieties.

At Morgan County Seeds, an ounce of seed is $1.80 plus shipping, 2,500 seeds per ounce.

They have the Japanese type according to the website. Is the Japanese type, long white ones the kind you all recommend?

www.morgancountyseeds.com/product/daikon/

[chrysanthemum]

I’m no expert on Daikon radishes, but I know there are culinary types and cover crop types. I have both types of seed. I’ve never eaten the roots of the cover crop type, not because they wouldn’t be good, but just because I only planted them late this winter and they bolted before they bulked up. I’m thinking maybe we did nibble on a few thin roots, but mostly we ate the seed pods, which those of us who like radishes really enjoyed. I think they say that the cover crop type can be more woody, but they can still be eaten.

I’m afraid I don’t have much more knowledge than that. I think my culinary types are named Minowase and Miyashige or something like that. One is supposed to be better for spring planting than the other. I don’t have very many seeds of those. Those that we did grow successfully were quite good.

[Tucson Grower]

I like Daikon radishes, because they're relatively easy to grow, they grow with fewer pest problems than many other cabbage relatives. I'm rather sensitive to the pungent components of radishes and their are Daikon varieties, namely the Korean type (white with a green top) and a purple-fleshed Japanese variety (Johnny's Select Seed) that are both somewhat less pungent, than most other radishes, yet still very flavorful. I can also grow them nearly all-year-long - yaah. And the leaves are just as good to eat as the roots. And, a century or so ago, there were Japanese varieties that could be grow to more that 100 lbs, each, and still be edible.

Thanks amyinowasso, for starting this thread. When I mentioned them in my Lettuce thread I thought they might deserve their own.

BTW, pickled is a favorite way they are enjoyed in much of Asia. They are an ingredient of Kimchi.

[woodeye]

I appreciate the info. I must confess, my goal is to find out if they are similar to cooked turnips. I have read that Daikon radishes taste similar to turnips when cooked, and I want to find out if that is true. I'm not necessarily looking for anything to replace turnips, I just want to try the Daikon radishes to add some variety. I don't foresee anything knocking turnips off the top spot, but anything can happen I suppose...

[heavyhitterokra]

I've never eaten them. We just grow them here and let them decompose in place as a soil amendment.  I'd call them a 'feel good' plant.  It feels good to see them growing in the Fall of the year.  They can't take really cold temperatures like turnips do though.  The roots freeze and die when the ground freezes because so much of the top is exposed above the surface.  I've never mulched them in place to try to preserve them from freezing.  I don't know enough about them to say if that would work?

I'll bet they'd do really well in sandier soil.   

[woodeye]

A meal amendment will be my Plan A, but if that doesn't work out then a soil amendment will be my Plan B. I ordered an ounce of seeds from Morgan County earlier, and I'd be happy if either plan works out. I don't plan on planting any until spring...

[Tucson Grower]

Nov 5, 2022 20:28:28 GMT -6 woodeye said:

A meal amendment will be my Plan A, but if that doesn't work out then a soil amendment will be my Plan B. I ordered an ounce of seeds from Morgan County earlier, and I'd be happy if either plan works out. I don't plan on planting any until spring...

Yours sounds like a good plan, as I understand the seed need warm temps to germinate well.

They do say that turnips are somewhat more nutritious than Daikon radish, though I've never eaten them, side by side, for a taste comparison.

I've recently seen some mature Korean type Daikon at one of our local Asian markets, those have pale green tops. They were about 3 inches in diameter and about 18-20 inches long. Making it obvious that I had harvested mine, too early.

[Tucson Grower]

After thinking a little more about those 100 lb roots - I'm sure glad I don't have to harvest any of that size - they're like 4 feet deep and almost a foot in diameter. I'd most certainly need a machine for that. I just recently finished digging 8 - 1 foot diameter holes, 4 feet deep, to anchor the posts for my carport. It took me more than 4 hours for each one, except for 2 where I struck adobe clay at 3 feet, those two took nearly 8 hours each (4 hours just to dig out the last foot of clay). It's hard to imagine digging up radishes the size of those post anchor holes, then lifting them out -- no thanks.

[woodeye]

Tucson Grower, I agree with that, I'd need a backhoe for radishes that size. It reminded me that back when I bought my Kubota in 2009, I window shopped for the backhoe attachment, but didn't have the $12,500 they asked for them back then. I still wish I had one, but now they're probably twice that price. We had a post hole digger attachment back in the early 60's that fit an old Allis Chalmers tractor. That was a long time ago, but that thing worked like a charm. When the new highway split our 240 acres in half, my dad built new wood post fences on both sides of the highway and dug all the post holes with the Allis and post hole digger. There's still some of the corner posts left standing on this place, they are old power poles cut into corner post lengths. I tried to knock one of the things over with my Kubota and it didn't budge an inch. It has been in the ground for 60 years, guess I'll leave it be... 

[amyinowasso]

I wonder if you could feed a 100 pound radish to animals? There are forage beets that grow quite big. Diakon radishes are also supposed to break up compacted soil. I tried them once where I wanted to grow asparagus. Turned out that spot was too wet. Neither of us care for radishes, but we like them better oven roasted. I usually plant a few with spring carrots to break the soil crust.
I pulled the turnip cake recipe from the other thread.
thewoksoflife.com/turnip-cake-lo-bak-go/

[amyinowasso]

Renee's has a cute little purple diakon if anyone is interested. www.reneesgarden.com/products/mini-purple

[amyinowasso]

Check out Korean radishes. My friend thinks Korean and Japanese (daikon) are the same or similar. I'd never seen these before.
kitazawaseed.com/collections/radish-korean