A "RADISH"CAL EXPERIMENT

Old Mother Frugal is fascinated with how women during the Great Depression fed their families. In some cases, as with her own Old Frugal Grandma, fed other families as well as her own.

Old Frugal Grandma fed her family of four and other families in her apartment building. It was a walk-up in New York City and legend has it that she had her son as the runner up and down the stairs delivering food.

Her son is now 91 years old. If prodded, he will tell stories of his youth during the Great Depression.

From various readings, dandelion salads using dandelion leaves were common during those days. While staring at a bunch of radish on the kitchen counter that little bit of information posed the question in Old Mother Frugal’s mind…why are radish leaves tossed as trash? 

Dandelion greens are edible. Some greens gathered from foraging are edible. Beet greens are edible. Why are radish greens being tossed as trash?

A little bit of research and recipes pop up en masse for radish leaves or radish greens. The most popular of which appeared to be a sauté of olive oil and garlic, then adding greens.

With a sale on radish bunches, the radish experiment took off. Each bunch had 10 or 11 radishes to it with a bounty of leaves. This week, three bunches for $1.00. Not a heavy investment for a culinary experiment.

The leaves filled an 8-cup bowl. But as with any greens that cook, they shrink in size. In this case, 8 cups yielded a half-cup of cooked greens.

The culinary challenge began!

First experiment was adding the cooked radish leaves to an English Muffin breakfast sandwich with an egg and a slice of Baked Forest Ham deli meat. With such success, more radish bunches were purchased.

The next experiment was adding the leaves to soup. Old Mother Frugal found a bag of homemade gnocchi in the freezer. A meatless soup of cannellini beans, gnocchi and radish greens made for a delicious and eye-appealing entrée.

The last experiment was adding the leaves to a pasta recipe with cooked salmon, capers and olives in a marinara sauce.

So give that radish leaf a second thought before tossing into the trash. What you discard are valuable high concentrations of vitamin B6, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, calcium, and vitamin A. There are also antioxidants, protein and dietary fiber in radish greens as well as potassium and folic acid!

Apparently, Grandma knew best!

Sound the Bugle! Today’s tip: While the focus of today’s blog is the greens of the radish, the radish itself should not be overlooked as a source of wonderful nutrients.  A light summer salad of sliced radish coins with salt or with a vinaigrette dressing is a refreshing accompaniment to a meal and economical as well!