Don’t you know the winter Ravanelli and have you discovered them on the stalls or in the AMAP basket? This post should give you some information and tricks to cook them.
I. Presentation
The radish designates an annual plant plant of the Brassicaceae family. We all have the image of the small pink radishes cultivated in spring in the fields and available on stalls to improve our salads. But did you know that there are other types of radishes, available in autumn winter?
A deviation in history
The radishes were quickly identified by men as edible plants, first for their leaves and then the root. The first cultures would have started 5000 years ago in the Near East, therefore led to a separation in two «groups» of cultivar:
- On the western side of the Aurasia, the Radish. Sativus SSP. sativus Small ravanelli often pink and the Ravanello Sativus Var. NigeR or black radish
- On the side of Asia (China and Japan in particular) Radish. Sativus SSP. Acanthformis ou SSP. longipinnatus rather long radish with swivel roots (daikon) e Radish. SINENSIS OU SSP. tail Chinese and green radishes
Cultivated from the XII to the 8th century AC J.-C in China, the biodiversity of the radishes cultivated in Asia is significantly greater than that of Europe. In the 18th century, more than 90 varieties were counted, they combined quickly with local recipes, in raw, cooked and dry form.
The introduction of these radishes on European stalls and fields began in 1870 for the Daïkon (Large white and long radishes). Other varieties were introduced a few years later by the Vilmorin Society, which sees in these radishes the possibility of cultivating other things compared to carrots, turnips and winter beets.
Today, all these Asian radishes are mainly cultivated by amateur gardeners and market gardeners anxious to introduce biodiversity in their cultures.
On the field side
The winter Ravanelli are sowing in the fields between June and September and collecting about 4 months later. Their advantage lies in their good conservation (fresh in the sand) which allows you to have a good part of winter on the table. Without being exhaustive, they did not mention the varieties:
- Radis ‘Minowase Summer Cross’: Radis Blanc, Long 60 cm
- Ravanelli «Mantanghong»: root of white skin and magenta meat
- Green meat radish, long green root, white end
- Radish. ‘Misato Red’: Round root of orange color, meat table
- Ravanello «Red meat»: round root, white skin, red meat
- Ravanello «Rose de China», elongated root with swollen and rounded ends, pink color, white meat (right photo, below)
- Radio «Daïkon»: long white radius
- …
In stores / on stalls
On stalls, we can discover these winter radishes from October until the end of January. They are presented in a mixed or individual boot.
II. How to cook winter radishes?
How to prepare them?
The winter radishes (like other radishes) are completely edible (root and flowers). They can be consumed raw or cooked, even if the more classic preparation mode is raw.
If you want to consume it raw, you have to wash them well, remove the base from the leaves peeling them. Ravanelli are often very crunchy, even hard in large pieces, we favor a fine cut (chopped rings, fine, grated, etc.)
In which dishes?
These winter radishes are conventionally consumed in salads, alone or with other seasonal vegetables. They bring a very pleasant refreshing side. Their graphic side is interesting to produce Carpaccios, where they are cut into thin rings.
These radishes can also be fermented, salted or cut in the rings and dried.
In China, winter radishes are commonly used to produce «radish cakes» where they are grated, mixture with flour and steam.
What to associate with them?
Because of their Asian origin, the winter radishes combine well with all the condiments of Asian cuisine: coriander, peppers, sesame, soy sauce, noun-mâm, Wasabi, etc.
It is fine with seasonal raw carrots and vegetables such as hard cabbage or raw beet. The apples adapt well to them because they also bring a fresh side.
In a complete dish, the radishes that allow them to be raised will preferably be associated with fish.
How to cook winter radishes?
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