My first homegrown winter radish!
These are a special group of radish that need to be grown while day length is shrinking. They should be planted in late summer to mature about 2 weeks after the first frost. I pulled a few of mine a little early, but more are still in the ground. I planted these when my popcorn started to tassel - around the 25th of July.
The mix I have is from Sand Hill Preservation Center and includes three types: China Rose, China White and Round Black Spanish. The Round Black Spanish is very wonderfully black and round. It keeps solid as a baseball until April - even after slicing. I bought some from the supermarket last year, and this was very true. The Sand Hill catalog says, "Vegetables of this type were essential and popular 100 years ago. Today's instant gratification society and modern shipping methods have replaced this wonderful type of radish."
The flavor is very much like a spring radish. Spicy and crisp. Refreshing whiteness in a martini! We added dried cranberries and papaya for a spicy/sweet and colorful drink.
Cheers to the harvest! The land has been good to us again.
5 comments:
The land has been good to us . . .
A bountiful year in the garden. A ghastly year in the world. Wars, suffering, people standing in lines for food, people standing in lines for jobs that don't exist, feckless lines, winless wars.
In the garden we strive for beauty. It's a lovesome place, a refuge from the world.
It's the best of all possible worlds: Candide, Voltaire, Leibniz, Pangloss. You can make a case for or against it.
Keats: "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." Is it? "Its loveliness increases." Does it? "It will never pass into nothingness." Not quite so. We gardeners are watching our gardens pass into nothingness.
Yet there's beauty in their death. In the process of coming and becoming and dying we find a thought: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty." The raison d'etre of life.
Thank you John Keats.
As Plato said, "From the love of the beautiful has sprung forth every good in heaven and on the earth. Thanks Plato.
Thanks pion - so true.
I love many, many things about this blog, but one of the true highlights is your martinis, and the way you use fresh garden produce in them! I love the relaxed connection between the good life of the garden and the good life with your feet up at home, a martini in hand.
I'm wondering, do you have a post somewhere with your basic martini recipe, so I can try one with radish slices as well?
Martini recipe (makes 2)
Chill shaker, gin and glasses in freezer. (We store them there.)
Add to shaker:
about 1 cup crushed ice
4 shots gin (or vodka)
splash of dry vermouth (~5 drops)
Shake well. Pour into two glasses. We like to add the ice too. Add SEASONAL vegetables and/or fruits to taste.
My favorites: melons, apples, pears, strawberries, cucumbers, celery, radish, onions, carrots, spicy Peppadew peppers, raisins, dried cranberries, dried papayas, dried fruit of any type, maraschino cherries ... Oh, and olives are nice too. Especially the big green ones with the pit still in.
Ahhh...
Yum! Thank you, I can't wait to give it a try with some of our veggies!
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