Radish Pods

I decided a couple of years ago that radishes are one of my favorite things to grow in my garden. The reason for my excitement over radishes is that you throw the seeds in the ground and very quickly you have little radish plants. Then you can eat the root (what we think of as a radish) and eat the greens (cooked with a little garlic and olive oil, trust me they are good). Last summer I learned about my favorite part of a radish that you can eat- the pod.
I was telling my friend about my love of radishes and she asked me if I ate the pods too. What!? There's more to these little magic plants!? So I let my radishes bloom and they made pods. I tasted one right off of the plant and was immediately smitten. They have the texture of a fresh, raw green bean but the flavor of a radish. Because I will pickle anything, I knew these had to be pickled. I have since done a little research and have found that they are wonderful in stir fries too.

In my research I found that there is a variety of radish that is grown especially for the pods called rat tailed radish. Not a very pleasant name for such a lovely treat. This year we ordered our seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and I was very excited to see they had rat tail radish seeds. We planted the french breakfast variety as well as the rat tail. I have been very happy eating the french breakfast with a little cold butter on bread (again, trust me, it is delish and makes the radishes taste sweet). The rat tail radishes have not disappointed at all. They are actually very pretty growing in the garden with small white and purple flowers. They are full of pods, I can hardly keep up. I have, of course, pickled and canned some and plan to stir fry some very soon.