French Breakfast Radish

During the height of winter I was digging through my Seed Savers Exchange catalog and putting some of my picks to vote. Among the many radishes I put forth the vote overwhelmingly went to the French Breakfast Radish, also known as Radis Demi-long Rose a Bout Blanc. As you can probably tell we live in the fast lane in this home spending our winters casting votes on vegetable seeds.

Radishes are part of the brassica family, which includes Brussels sprouts, cabbage and broccoli just to name a few. This particular veggie is among the group of new comers that I am going to attempt to save seed from this year. The process really sounds pretty easy from everything I have read. Basically keep the three healthiest specimens and let them flower and ripen, of course you want to use heirlooms, not those nasty GMO's!

At first I was kind of surprised how healthy a radish could be but then when I took a moment to think about it I remembered that brassica's in general are really amazing foods. Radishes are high in Vitamin C, a natural antioxidant. They also appear to be a protective factor of sorts against certain types of cancers, such as lung cancer. They help lower blood pressure and also bad cholesterol.

We tried these little thumb shaped radishes last night in our salads for the first time and they were very good. They had an extremely mild taste and even the kids devoured them.

Tobias Whitaker blogs for Mother Earth News and Grit Magazine. Click on the Mother Earth News logo at the bottom of the page for all of his post. You can also find him on Facebook at Seed To Harvest: Bossy Hen Homestead  https://www.facebook.com/seedtoharvestbossyhenhomestead/ which is a central location for his homesteading blogs and his homeschooling blog, A Mile In Her Shoes: Tales Of A Stay-At Home Dad found here https://amileinhershoestalesofastayathomedad.wordpress.com/