In the radish families, for us daikon is the easiest and suitable radish for us to grow. We also like daikon because its flavour does not turn hot quickly and do not need to be harvested quickly like other radishes when the flesh can become woody if not harvest quickly. Can be left for months on the soil. But have to be cautious that when spring comes it may start to flower. Although sometime it is said that daikon can be grown all year round. In our case, spring-sown daikon tends to bolt quickly before producing much of a root. I am not sure what factor causes this. Can it be the day length or other environment stress factor, I am not certain. Water was still enough in spring so we can eliminate that factor. But we have tried 2 spring season consecutively and yielded same results. However, we have no such problem when we sowed daikon seeds from end summer through fall here. Daikon grows very well through that period.
Newly germinated daikon seeds.
Although daikon grows very big and long root, it grows really fast compared to other root vegetables. From front row to back row; daikon, carrot and parsnip. If you have not grown daikon before, you will be surprise how much daikon root can grown in 6 weeks in good environment. So it can also be a good inter-cropping plant.
Daikon is a good soil breaker plant.
If I am not mistaken, daikon leave is edible.
Well caterpillars and slugs do like to munch on daikon leaves.
Moreover, daikon is related to Asian greens and broccoli, the brassicas.
If I am not mistaken, daikon leave is edible.
Well caterpillars and slugs do like to munch on daikon leaves.
Moreover, daikon is related to Asian greens and broccoli, the brassicas.
Daikon plants that is starting to flower.
At this stage, the daikon root is still edible.
Daikon flower and seed pods.
Daikon flower resembles kailan (Chinese broccoli) flower.
However, daikon seed pods shapes is different from kailan or other leafy brassicas seed pods which can be differentiated easily. Our flowering daikon plants grows for at least 5 feet tall.
Daikon seeds.
Lenay harvested the seeds and I have not sorted it properly.
How do you like to prepare your daikon?
18 comments:
I've not had daikon before. That is a really big plant though.
Cher Sunray Gardens
Diakon roots look like carrots.
Are they a kind of carrot?
We have kailan seeds thanks to you. We could use a good interim vegetable. We'll have to try growing daikon this season.
I grew some Daikon last Spring, and I had the problem you describe - they grew very quickly, but many of them bolted. The way we liked best to eat Daikon was raw in a salad. We were not keen on it cooked.
I will be interested to see what people come up with regarding how to use it. I grew it once and made pickle with it but no much else. I would love some more ideas as as you say it grows quickly and easily.
Cm pernah tanam Daikon tapi walaupun tunggu lama ia tak pernah berbunga.Sangat senang hidup dan tak banyak musuh.Daunnya direbus untuk diminum airnya.
I'll have to try and decide on the best time to sow the daikon seeds that you sent me and hope I get to taste at least one root.
I tried to grow daikon for the first time in mid-spring but it all bolted straight to seed in the warm weather. I let a couple go for seed and they were enormous! I've kept it to try again in a few months. Apart from stir-fry and pickles, I'm not sure what else to do with it.
Salad - grated with carrots and apples, or with cabbage and green onions - olive oil and lemon juice on top .
The leaves are good in vegetables soups.
I always wondered what to do with Daikon, I saw it in a local asian market we like to get veggies at. I will try it in a salad, like many of your commenters suggest.
Thanks for your comment on my blog.
Happy New Year!
We usually have ours as a salad. Just throw in some red onions, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. Mmm!
Belated Happy New Year, Diana!
That sounds like a good one to try here in the Fall. I like things that you can just leave in the ground until you need them!
Can we grow them in clay type of soil? So far i only plant them in pots.
Thanks for your informative post!
hi diana, thanks for sharing, first time i educate myself on this daikon.. a very worthhwile plant to grow, with great harvest. must start looking for this in the supermarket ant try cook something out of it.
you are really serious on gardening, you plant so many varieties. have a nice day dear
a very happy new year to you!! over here, sometimes i prepare daikon soup, chinese style of preparing cook it with carrots and meat and also make radish cake.
Wah, big and healthy daikon. I love to slice them, salt them and then wash the salt and add vinegar to make an instant daikon pickle. The sprouts are good in salads too.
Cher~Daikon is also known as Japanese radish. They are common in Asian grocery store.
Rainfield61~ Similar like carrot. But we call it 'lobak putih' in Malaysia.
Jody~Hope you like the kailan.
Mark~I remember I like daikon in 'oden', a popular Japanese dish during festive season. Perhaps day very sensitive to long day-length season that is why they bolted easily in spring.
Liz~You can make radish cake with daikon and then cut the cake and fried it with chilli sauce. I have the recipe in my recipe tab. You can also mix other vegetable or meat together when making radish cake. Daikon is known as 'Mooli" in hindi and there are also Indian cuisine using daikon.
Cikmanggis~Syokkan daikon ni tak remeh sangat nak jaga.Tahan lama pula tu.
Sue~Daikon is very cold tolerant. In Japan they are usually grown during cool season. I used to see daikon covered with snow when I was living in a very cold region in Japan. Since you have mild summer than us perhaps you can start growing daikon after mid-summer by succession sowing.
Hearts_in_asia~I tried growing them very early spring when its still cool but they still bolt pretty quickly. You can make hash daikon with daikon. I found many ways to enjoy daikon while browsing The Australian Women's Weekly-Japanese recipe book from our local library.
Dani~Thank you for the tips. All sounds delicious.
Rosey~I hope you enjoy daikon and will be a common vegetable in your kitchen.
Bom~Sounds good. Happy belated New Year to you too.
Katie~I agree sometime glut not a good thing. It is more better to be able to leave them on the ground and harvest just when we needed them.
Malar~They can grow in clay soil. But it won't be big and perfect long root like one growing in loose soil. You will be surprised how strong the root can go deep into clay soil though. We grow them in clay soil and have gotten root more than 30cm long.The challenge was pulling it out from the soil. Have to be gentle pulling them out or they get broken.
Cookingvarities~Hope you enjoy daikon. I like them in soup.
Lena~Oh I saw you radish cake and has bookmark it hoping to make it when we have some daikon on hand.
Sean L~What a nice way to enjoy daikon. Yes the sprouts good for salad and sandwich too.
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