Understanding Daikon

Comments

  • csinclair461
    csinclair461 Posts: 159 ✭✭✭

    I love Daikon (the root part) in my stir fries, and soups. I was intrigued by the chinese daikon cake, but not that interested in all the ingredients, maybe can tweak them a bit, or find a different version. I only know Daikon as a white type of radish at the store. Sounds like I need to get some seeds and meet the rest of the plant!

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @csinclair461 Hi, I found this looking for info as I want to understand why they are so popular in fermented foods. This helped alot so I wanted to share. Also there is lots of other articles on the same page so glad you found something of interest to you.

    I plant on growing them for my kimchi I"m going to make, albeit, mine may be a little diff than the usual recipe. I just want something healthy but that I can enjoy the taste.

  • Helen South Australia
    Helen South Australia Posts: 42 ✭✭✭

    I have Daikon growing almost all year round. There is a really good dish you can make that keeps in the fridge for a few days. Cut the daikon into very, very small pieces.

    In a saucepan, put a little sesame oil, some finely chopped garlic and chilli. Heat and cook until just cooked (only a couple of minutes.) Add the finely cut daikon, with a 1/4 cup of water. Return to the heat and bring to the boil. Leave boiling for 30 seconds, then take off the heat. Allow to stand, covered, for 3 minutes, then take the lid off and cool as quickly as possible. (The main trick is not to overcook the daikon.)

    You will have a slightly crunchy vegetable side dish that is best served cold.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @csinclair461 I love the way you put that. It is so true how we intimately know our vegetables after growing them year after year. One year a long time ago, when my daughter was visiting my brother and his wife a long way from home, I found myself talking to my garden while I worked it, and to the plants as well. I so missed my daughter during her visit away. Not only did talking to my plants ease the emptiness of missing my daughter, somewhat, I realized how calming and peaceful it was and I talk to everything I grow and even the dandelions in my yard. Amazing how awesome nature is and how so many ways exist to ease us through life when needed, or even just brightening up an already awesome day.

    @Helen South Australia Your recipe sounds good..I love chili. Thanks for posting it. Will have to try it when my radishes are ready.

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Daikon shoots are also excellent as salad greens or sandwich greens. They are a bit spicy and add a bit of a kick to the other greens.

    They're very easy to grow as shoots in potting soil inside under lights, so I grow them all winter.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @catherine.james Does growing inside over the winter effect the flavor/difference in seasonal outside garden grown? I got mine mainly for kimchi but also for my concrete soil...

  • danielle.meitiv
    danielle.meitiv Posts: 30 ✭✭✭

    I'm planning to grow some daikon in my garden this fall/winter because I LOVE daikon pickles but haven't made any in an age. They're super easy and were the first thing I ever learned to ferment.

    I use a salt brine and slice them into coins, then just ferment them in a loosely closed mason jar in a dark cabinet for a few weeks.

    Anyone else have suggestions for daikon pickles? I have yet to add any spices, although I'm planning use some fresh dill and pepper corns next time.

  • seeker.nancy - Central Texas
    seeker.nancy - Central Texas Posts: 795 ✭✭✭✭

    @silvertipgrizz I talk to my plants all the time. It is very peaceful and I find their energy calming even when I'm riled about something. Of course I also talk to inanimate objects. I think it just happens when we spend a lot of time by ourselves or at least with only a few of the same people. Of course if my daughter is home I have to be quiet or she's always asking "what?" 😂

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @silvertipgrizz a friend of mine swears by putting diakon leaves in a bath for UTI's. Just another use for them. I guess you could dry them and store them for the future.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jodienancarrow Ok, this id prolly going to be tmi lol, but you gave me an idea for a nice relaxing and diff kind of bath...imagine if you can....a nice tub full of just drawn very warm water with some bath salts and just a touch of green coloring..and many diff leaves of your garden plants floating atop of the water...I love my baths and I love my garden...Just thinking about it and I would sleep sound sound sound...

    back to reality now 😭

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I am very excited this is the first year I have grown Daikons and I have two of them coming up now! Also I saw a recipe for rice were they used Daikon leaves as a seasoning.

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I grew Alpine daikon radish last year, but was disappointed that they didn't get very large. For kimchi, I really wanted larger ones, so I didn't grow them again this year.

    Homemade kimchi is great, and very easy to do. The hardest part has been getting daikon radish locally. I have never seen them in a local grocery store or farmstand.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @VermontCathy Any idea why they didn't get as big as needed? I ask because I am going to grow my first crop of them this fall..also for kimchi.

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @silvertipgrizz Not with any certainty.

    Korea has a cool, mountainous climate that's not too different from Vermont, so I doubt that's the problem. I grow them in excellent, easily-workable soil in raised beds, so the root is not struggling to expand.

    Maybe the beds weren't deep enough. That would make sense, as the carefully-maintained soil is only about six inches deep. My carrots have been able to drill into the clay underneath, but perhaps the radishes can't.

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @silvertipgrizz that would be soup😃I would probably eat the leaves! Your idea is actually very sound. I'm going to try it. I'll let you know.

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jodienancarrow Good, you try the bath and I'll try the soup lol...

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @VermontCathy Check this out, just in terms of what this type of radish can do for your soil:


  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    If you grow daikon in the desert environment, you will end up with a heat index of 9. I could barely eat the ones I grew. (My chili peppers were pretty hot too.)

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @shllnzl Is that because the daikon is a cool weather crop?

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @silvertipgrizz I will check out that Tillage Radish. If it works, that could really help break new ground.

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @silvertipgrizz It's been awhile, but I would guess that I planted the daikon in the correct season. As all gardeners know, however, is that weather does what it wants. Either heat stress or sun intensity caused the heat in my vegetables. The peppers and okra were also smaller.

    BTW: Okra really took off when the temps went above 100 degrees; I had the plants in a southern exposure so the fruits ripened quickly. I highly recommend okra for hot garden areas. (I planted seed here in hot areas, but some of my beloved wild creatures ate them while still in seedling stage.)

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @shllnzl I love okra and it does very well here too in the very hot okla summer heat.

    Gotta love those precous wild creatures, and cats...

  • SherryA
    SherryA Posts: 314 ✭✭✭

    I just bought daikon seeds. I'm trying them this fall for the first time.

  • MelissaLynne
    MelissaLynne Posts: 205 ✭✭✭
    edited July 2020

    I enjoy cooking with diakon and used it a lot when I lived in Seattle with plenty Asian markets to buy from. It is too expensive to buy much at the regular grocers and I haven’t used it since moving to the country.

    I’ve been meaning to grow some, but haven’t yet purchased seeds. Also considering it as a cover crop for one of our newly acquired fields that has been neglected for some time.

  • Nancy A.Maurelli
    Nancy A.Maurelli Posts: 44 ✭✭✭

    I use daikon radish both raw (salads, crudite, fermented veggies) and cooked. It is excellent in soups (instead of a mild turnip or cabbage), roasted veggie mix, stir-fries, stews, etc. I usually purchase the organic root from supermarket; I am motivated to attempt growing it to use the greens as well...