Thinned Daikon or Bathing Beauties

I picked these up at one of the nearby farms at their little vegetable stall. We've done our thinning (mabiki) of the daikons already at the farm, and we finished half of the kabu field on Friday. We ate the leaves in salad and sprinkled over our miso, and the roots got finely chopped in any assortment of salads, too.

The daikon is normally a mild-mannered member of the radish family, but these packed quite a pungent punch. (I am a fan of alliteration as well as farmer's markets.) If they maintain this kind of flavor as they get larger, they should be a spicy addition to our winter dishes!

Comments

fer said…

I want to find some gardener markets around here too, but I haven't found much.

November 3, 2010 at 2:51 AM

Joan Lambert Bailey said…

Hi Angela,

Thanks for your note. I'll see what I can find out. There are a ton of community gardens in different places, but I know an application needs to be completed, etc. I'll get back to you soon.

November 5, 2010 at 9:47 AM

Joan Lambert Bailey said…

-fer, I think you've got at least one nice farmer's market in Yokohama. I'm hoping to get to it some time in the months to come. I'll see if I can find the information again for you.

November 5, 2010 at 9:48 AM

Vegetable Garden Cook said…

I haven't grown daikon yet, though I have some seeds. Do you have any tips?

November 7, 2010 at 3:15 AM

Joan Lambert Bailey said…

Amy, it's pretty simple. We place two seeds (a safe bet for germination) in the center of the space allotted, and press them down about half an inch. We then pat them firmly in place while creating a cup-shaped space to hold water and prevent the seed from washing away. Once the seedlings have about six to eight leaves, you can thin them and eat the spares. (I wrote a post about that somewhere here...) Daikon gets pretty big, so you'll want to leave about a foot and a half between plants. Seriously, these things are ginormous once they get going. Let me know how it goes!

November 7, 2010 at 8:47 AM

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