Last week the kids and I were off school/work (I work at a school) for half term, and we did some harvesting at the allotment. The tomatoes are still going, though slowing, and we also brought home some beets and a few more achocha (just when I thought they'd finished); but the main event was a big bag of cooking radishes.
I know, I know, no photos; I'm a pathetic blogger. If I was trying to make money off this blog I might try harder! But that's not me; I'm not in it for the clicks. You'll have to believe me when I say we brought home about 8# of radishes (and 2# of toms and another 3# of beets--the son heroically carried home those heavy bags)!
Most were black Spanish radishes, the smallest of which were only slightly smaller than a tennis ball (bigger than a golf ball) and the biggest about softball size (huge!); I couldn't believe the size of them actually, considering I only put the seed down in August. I pulled just two of the so-called "mini" daikon radishes as my bag was full by this point, but both were like extra-large white carrots. Normal daikon radishes can be several feet long so the mini description is accurate in comparison, but they came in at about 1# each including the tops--hardly mini in my book.
All but the three smallest black roots (these will be for cooking in stew) went into a new batch of dongchimi, a type of water kimchi. I peeled the black ones--white on the inside--but didn't bother with the daikons and then sliced them all thinly with my mandolin; together they filled my spare 1.8 L jar and are fermenting happily on my kitchen counter. I still have about a quarter left of my kohlrabi dongchimi from August; I love it so much I've been making it last but now I have a new batch I can go to town on it.
The lush and full radish tops I cooked and seasoned similarly to my beet tops and we ate them with dinner for several days running; these were about half of the total radish weight. While tasty, they were a bit more fibrous than the beet tops; in the future I will remember to cook a bit longer to ensure tenderness.
The radish bed is still pretty full and is next to a bed of turnips destined for the same treatment. It's shaping up to be a kimchi-filled winter.
