Finding ways to process and best use the food that we grow in the garden is a lifelong journey if you allow it to be. From canning to dehydrating, freezing to picking, being able to store the gifts from the earth for eating later is such a gem!! I am grateful every day to be able to live in a space on the earth that nourishes me tenfold for how I nourish her. RIght now my radishes are continuing to reach harvest stage, and we love a little creativity in our food lives.
I am personally a fan of most anything pickled - okra, cucumbers, plums, just to name a few. Several years ago I started learning a little bit about lacto-fermentation and the health benefits that the digestive system can enjoy if you add fermented foods to your diet. Once you learn how amazing probiotics are for your gut health, it's always a win to find a source the whole family can enjoy. We still eat plenty of pickled foods, but I love to sneak the fermented goodness in for a healthy treat!
I am still very much in the beginning phases of lacto-fermentation, which is why this quick radish "pickle" is so great! It is very simple to create. It's a blend of sliced radishes, mustard greens, and onions that only takes a few days to make. It uses up some of the radish surplus in a way that offers a condiment for the fridge that can add probiotic punches to your meals.
I am not always "exact" with my measurements and my work in the kitchen. As those of you who spend a lot of time on culinary creations can attest, over time you just work on a feeling, adding or altering a little bit here and there as the ancestors whisper in your ear! That's another thing I like about this recipe ~ you decide it's done based on texture and taste, not an exact amount of time.
For this recipe I used the following:
- mustard greens, torn into pieces (you could use the radish tops for this)
- half of a large white onion, julienned
- salt (I used coarse ground kosher)
- water
You could add dill, or caraway, or other spices to it if you like. I don't have any fresh dill large enough to harvest yet, and there's caraway in the kraut that has been brewing along side the radishes. I left this batch simple.
Take 4 cups of water and heat it on the stove. Add 2-3 Tbsp of salt and stir until dissolved. This will be your brine. I usually do this prior to getting the veggies ready, or at the same time. As you can see I used a half gallon mason jar for this batch. If you are doing a smaller jar, you can always toss the extra brine.
Now that you have all your ingredients prepared, you have made it to filling the jar. I like things to look pretty if I can in the kitchen, so I carefully layered the radishes, onions, and greens. I purposely ended with the mustard greens because it seemed they would help everything else stay submerged once I put the weight on it easier than pieces of onion or radish.
Now that all the veggies are in the jar, you can pour the brine right over it. The main thing to remember is that you want everything to be submerged. If anything gets left in the air, that's where your mold or bacteria might be able to enter.
There are some really cool fermenting lids out there and one day I would really like to have some. At that point I will probably get lost in a black hole of fermentation projects, like I do a lot of the 'hobbies' I take up. In the mean time, I use a bit more brine than might be needed and just pour the excess off at the end. I fill a jar with water and use it as a glass weight, and then I keep a small towel secured over it while it brews to keep any particulates or curious insects from ending up in the water. Of course, the jar I used for a weight is almost the exact size of the opening.
You can easily use cheese cloth (like you see on my saurkraut) or a coffee filter secured with a rubber band for a cover.
The process goes faster when it's warmer. Some people put them on the kitchen counter, some put them in a cabinet. Personally, mine just sat with the other food jars (sprouts, kraut) on my chest freezer.
Now is the time to wait, and watch. You can check the taste as early as 3 or 4 days, but I personally let it go about a week. This particular batch I put in the fridge yesterday, which makes it an 8 day project.
The picture below was taken on Sunday, which would be day 3 for each of the jars. My sprouts were nearly ready to harvest, but my radish ferment was nowhere near ready. The kraut was not yet done either.
I am glad I listened.
I really wanted to capture the beauty of this project, so I brought it out to a sunny spot in the front yard for an impromptu photo shoot.
Isn't that color gorgeous?
No matter how great your presentation is, culinary delight is found in the tantalizing palette of taste.
Thanks for reading! Happy adventures in your own culinary wonderland!
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I've never had pickled radish other than in kimchi. Guess I'm gonna have to GROW some little red radishes and try this! 😊
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Cool! That was nice! How is the weather planting radish? At which weather it grow or can live?
Radishes can stand the cooler weather, so I planted them directly in the garden here in early March. I live on the border of the US climate zone 6/7, so we didnt get our last freeze until mid-may.
I am going to see if I can keep them going throughout the summer. They are easy to grow, and succession planting (new seeds planted every couple of weeks) keeps them able to harvest continually.
I have not been super diligent on every couple of weeks, but I have done 3 different plantings since mid-March.
Wow! Thank you for the wonderful information that you gave to me! I love it!!!