The Rat-Tailed Radish

By

Paula Szilard


The vegetable gardeners among us know about the major tropical vegetables, many of which came from tropical America and southern Asia.  They are the heat lovers, such as—cucumbers, pumpkins, squashes, beans and all of the vegetables in the Solanaceae family including potatoes, eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, and tomatillos.  However, not many of us know about the rat-tailed radish.  Is it possible that this vegetable has not attained the popularity of the others because of its descriptive, yet repulsive name?


The rat-tailed radish is grown for its large and spicy edible seedpods, not its root.  Botanically, it is Raphanus caudatus, whereas the root radish is Raphanus sativus.  It has a long and colorful history. It was introduced into England from Java in 1815.  By the 1860’s it was widely grown in England.  It is described in Vilmorin’s classic French book, The Vegetable Garden.  I could not determine the publication date of the original French edition, but it appeared in an English translation in 1885.  On the other side of the Atlantic, Americans had been growing a shorter, apparently more pungent variety of this radish for 20 years, although it is puzzling that there is no mention of it in Fearing Burr’s Field and Garden Vegetables in America, published in 1863. Perhaps it was just not widely grown.


The plant caused a sensation at the International Horticultural Exhibition held in London in 1866, but the Mr. Bull who exhibited it was given to hyperbole, claiming, among other things that the pods could grow three inches overnight and reach a length of three to four feet. Naturally such exaggeration may have led to disappointment and possibly a decline in interest in this plant. Apparently Mr. Bull quite literally lived up to his name.


The plants bearing the plump pods grow about three to four feet tall and have small, but  attractive white or lavender flowers. Theoretically, seed pods of all radishes are edible, but the rat-tailed radish has been bred specifically for large, succulent pods, about 2-6 inches long.  Some of the shorter ones have a purplish cast to them.  The upper portion is hardly bigger than a pencil. The peppery, pungent flavor is reminiscent of a root radish or arugula going to seed. It is in the Cruciferae family, along with cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts, broccoli, mustard, mustard greens, root radishes and yes, arugula. Presumably this vegetable would confer the same health benefits provided by other members of this plant family.  Nutritionists have long been urging us to eat more of them.


I ordered my seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange Catalog and planted them in mid-March. The seed packets offered by SSE are a mixture of the shorter and longer varieties. We only planted one row, since we didn’t know if we’d like them.  They should be harvested before the pods get mature and tough.  They are supposed to flower and produce all season, through the heat of summer.  I have noticed the long tail tends to be stringy and I just cut it off.  You can add them to green salads for a zestier flavor or to an egg or potato salad, along with the celery for added interest and pungency.  I have also lightly steamed them and stir fried them in sesame oil with minced garlic, adding a little soy sauce and a few toasted sesame seeds at the end.  While this a tasty way to prepare them, it considerably reduced their pungency and all but eliminated their pepperiness.

Vegetables like the rat-tailed radish that can produce in the heat are bound to rise in popularity in the years to come.   This hitherto cool and rainy summer not withstanding, we are in a state of global warming and we need to look for more vegetables that do well in the heat.  Whereas regular radishes get woody and go to seed when temperatures rise, the rat-tailed radish forms succulent edible pods—a real advantage as our springs and summers get hotter.


Sources:

Burr, Fearing.  Field and Garden Vegetables of America. 1863.  (Reprinted by American Botanist, 1994)

Vilmorin-Andrieux et Cie.  The Vegetable Garden.  English edition, 1885.  (Reprinted by Ten Speed Press)

www.kitchengardeners.org, website of Kitchen Gardeners International.