french breakfast radishes

The rising tide of popularity of other root vegetables – beets, carrots, daikon, even turnips – does not seem to have lifted the humble radish. And that’s too bad, because I love radishes. The crunchy texture, the nip of peppery flavor and, most of all, the cheerful color. How can you not have a good day when you look at that magenta-red?

Yes, if radishes get too large and dried out, they may taste like you bit into a pepper grinder. But now, spring, is the radish’s prime time. Get them fresh-picked from a farmers market or through a CSA, as I did this week, and they are moist, wonderful vegetables – not things to scrape off your salad. Even the leafy tops – again, if they’re fresh-picked and bright green – are good. Raw or sauteed; just try it. Actually, I think the tops of most vegetables are good to eat (carrots the exception) if they are fresh enough.

I received a bunch of French breakfast radishes, recognizable by their elongated shape and two-tone color. I’d read that they are eaten for breakfast, spread with butter. It works! The richness of the butter, the sweet-spicy flavor of the radishes…