Red radish: photos, beneficial properties, harm, care, recipes for treatment, and also what is inside such a vegetable, what is good about the winter variety Barynya and other types of this crop?

What it is?

a brief description of

Red radish is a variety of garden radish from the cruciferous family. Although many botanists believe that this is a radish hybrid. Other experts are sure that this is a type of black radish. Disputes are still ongoing and there is no consensus on this matter.

Description and photo

This root vegetable is round or cylindrical in shape and looks similar to a large radish . All its varieties have the same red or crimson color as radishes, and inside there is dense, white pulp.

The taste is slightly spicy, with soft notes. The weight of the vegetable can reach an average of 200-300g. Red radish belongs to the early and mid-early varieties. The growing season from planting to technical maturity ranges from 40 to 80 days.

Differences from other species

Black radish	A round root crop with low taste compared to other varieties. Bitter taste. Has medicinal properties.
Green	The fruit is round in shape with light green skin. It has a pleasant spicy-sweet taste. Long shelf life.
White (Daikon)	The root vegetable is white, elongated in shape. The size reaches 0.6 m. Has a delicate pleasant taste.
Red	A red root vegetable that resembles an overgrown radish. Early ripening compared to other species. The taste is rich and moderately spicy.

Chemical composition

Red radish contains a whole range of useful vitamins, acids, and essential oils. The vegetable can be used as an adjuvant for the treatment of vitamin deficiency , because it contains:

vitamins A, B, C;
acids - nicotinic, salicylic, folic;
essential oils;
minerals – calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium.

The root vegetable contains only 20 kilocalories per 100 g of product, so it is popular among those who want to lose weight.

Calorie content, kcal.	20
Squirrels, gr.	1,2
Fats, gr.	0,1
Carbohydrates, gr.	3,4

Traditional medicine recipes

Important - if you have a tendency to allergies or any diseases, especially chronic ones, consult your doctor before using alternative medicines!

A common and safe recipe for treating coughs, if all the rules are followed, is radish juice with honey. The vitamin composition of the root vegetable enhances the body’s ability to fight viruses, and sulfur promotes easy expectoration of sputum.

You will need a medium vegetable, from which you must first cut off the “lid” and then scrape out the pulp, leaving the walls no thinner than 2 centimeters. Fill half of the cavity with high-quality natural honey of any kind. After 10-12 hours, the radish will release juice. Its mixture with honey is needed to treat cough.

Benefits and harms

It contains dietary fiber and a large amount of fiber, which stimulates digestion, which has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
Eating radish in small quantities improves the production of gastric juice and some digestive enzymes.
The content of vitamins and essential oils in the root vegetable improves well-being during bronchopulmonary infections.
Potassium strengthens the heart muscle and blood vessels.
Radish has diuretic and choleretic properties.
Red radish juice helps against the formation of cholesterol plaques and serves to prevent atherosclerosis.

But it cannot be said that this root vegetable has only beneficial properties. In some cases, eating red radish can be harmful:

For example, pregnant women should use this product with caution. Essential oils can affect the tone of the uterus, which can lead to miscarriage or premature birth.
If you have serious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, radish will not only not help, but will also do harm. All contraindications are related to the fact that the substances contained in this vegetable affect the mucous membranes.

List of contraindications for use:

gastritis;
stomach ulcer;
increased stomach acidity;
heart disease;
duodenal ulcer;
liver diseases.

Use in cooking

Healthy red radish is most often used fresh .
It serves as the basis for a variety of summer and winter salads. In addition, chopped root vegetables can be used in various dishes, both vegetable and meat. Thanks to the use of red radish, other foods are digested much faster.

Root vegetables give the final dish an incredible taste and spicy aroma. In some countries, red radish is subject to heat treatment, for example, it can be boiled, stewed and fried.

Growing

Radishes are best planted in early spring, usually in early or mid-March.
Seeds for planting are pre-disinfected and soaked in water for 24 hours.
The vegetable is not picky about soil composition, but prefers moist loams with normal acidity.
The land for planting is prepared in the fall; it is dug up and applied per 1 square meter. meter - 1 bucket of compost and 0.5 liters of wood ash.
The seeds are planted in grooves to the depth of the phalanx of the finger, at a distance of 30-35 cm from each other and sprinkled with earth or peat.
Radish seedlings must be thinned to obtain large root crops.
For full development, radish requires not frequent, but abundant watering.
Due to lack of moisture, root vegetables become bitter and do not gain weight, and frequent watering causes the fruits to crack.
Another secret to getting an excellent harvest is regular weeding and fertilizing with a mineral mixture during the ripening period of root crops.
Sometimes, some varieties, especially long-fruited ones, require hilling.
Good neighbors for radishes are radishes and turnips.

Harvest and storage

Winter varieties are harvested in the fall, starting in September and before the first frost. If the radish is intended for winter storage, then harvesting is carried out as late as possible, but before the soil freezes.

The radish is freed from the remaining soil and dried outdoors in the shade.
Then small roots and tops are removed. The root vegetable prepared in this way is placed in wooden or plastic boxes with ventilation holes.
The radish is covered with sand in layers and put into the cellar.

Radish is stored at a temperature of 1-2 degrees and at a humidity of 90 percent.

Advice

Spring varieties of red radish are dug up in the summer, as the vegetable ripens. They cannot be stored for long periods of time and are used mainly for consumption during the summer season.

What vegetable seeds should I buy?

For apartment

Radishes are rarely grown at home. Its close relative, radish, is more suitable for this. The following varieties grow well on a window or balcony:

Carmen;
White Fang;
Celeste F1.

The harvest is harvested 40 days after planting. The main thing is not to exceed the temperature too much (18-20 degrees) and ensure watering.

For open ground

All varieties suitable for central Russia are used when planting in open ground. In addition to them, it is worth mentioning the Odesskaya-5 variety. It has a lot of positive qualities: juicy, tasty fruits with delicate pulp, ripen quickly, smooth white peel, suitable for both autumn consumption and winter storage.

For greenhouses

Radish is grown in film greenhouses and heated rooms. Daikon varieties are gaining popularity:

Mantangong;
Beauty Heart.

A distinctive feature of such root vegetables is their large size, round shape and reddish flesh .

Also suitable for greenhouses:

Runder Weisser (early variety);
Deno (large size and lush tops);
Osterhus white;
Munich greenhouse.

In this case, seedling and non-seedling methods are used . With high humidity and warm temperatures, the process of ripening and growth is significantly accelerated.

Diseases and pests

The most common diseases of red radish:

clubroot;
blackleg;
powdery mildew;
cabbage mosaic;
white rot.

Kila . Clubroot is a fungal root disease. Most often occurs in acidic, waterlogged soil. Spherical growths form on the roots of a diseased plant, which darken over time and begin to rot. The plant is stunted and withers.
Black leg . The most common disease that affects not only planted plants, but also seeds. Therefore, before planting radishes, the seeds must be carefully processed. The base of the plant turns black and begins to rot.
Powdery mildew . A common disease of all cruciferous crops. The tops are covered with a gray coating, similar to flour. Over time, the plant begins to lag behind in development, the roots become small.

In addition to diseases, the enemies of red radish are also pests :

Cruciferous flea beetle . A small leaf beetle that causes irreparable damage to the tender leaves of young seedlings.
Wireworms . The larvae of click beetles gnaw both the root crop itself and the leaves.
Nematodes that have settled on a plant feed on plant sap, which leads to distortion and stunted growth of the affected plant.
Garden cutworm . Cutworm caterpillars destroy leaves.
Leaf fly . Leaf fly larvae eat the roots.

Red radish salad with beets and eggs

This dish has not only a special, not quite ordinary composition, but also a serving method. As a result, you can see an incredibly beautiful picture, and not just products poured and mixed together. Naturally, the salad attracts attention and arouses special interest, because it really becomes interesting what lies under such an unusual shell.

Required components:

200 gr. beets;
150 gr. carrots;
250 gr. red radish;
2 large eggs;
100 gr. processed cheese;
180 gr. mayonnaise;
6 garlic cloves;
40 gr. green onions;
20 gr. dill;
20 gr. parsley;
100 gr. tomatoes.

Preparation step by step:

The beets are washed and boiled, then cooled and cut into slices.
The garlic is peeled and crushed using a press.
Place the eggs in a small saucepan, add water and boil for about 12 minutes, then cool, peel and cut into cubes.
Raw carrots are washed and peeled with a brush, cut into cubes, mixed with garlic and eggs.
The cheese is cut into cubes and added to the rest of the ingredients.
The washed radish is cleaned, cut into small pieces, mixed with the rest of the ingredients and the whole mass is seasoned with mayonnaise.
Then the most exciting part begins - the formation of the dish itself. To do this, place each component separately on a plate and form each into something similar to a rose flower from beet circles.

Red radish in salads looks very attractive and its special taste does not go unnoticed. Radish and potato salads turn out very bright, rich and healthy. Another feature is the affordable price of the components. You can add different foods to these snacks and thus create your own, truly ideal dish.

Prevention of various problems

To prevent the vegetable from becoming infected with fungal diseases (clout clubroot, gray rot, powdery mildew, blackleg), the radish is sprayed with solutions containing copper. The most common preparations are copper sulfate or Bordeaux mixture.

Plantings must be treated in accordance with the required dosage specified in the instructions for the drug. In order to get rid of pests, the bushes are sprayed with specialized insecticidal preparations .

The product is selected depending on what pest the radish is affected by. To prevent many crop diseases, you need to properly prepare the seed and soil.

Description of watermelon radish

Pink radish was bred by European breeders, but the vegetable gained great popularity among American chefs. Russian gardeners learned about the bright red root vegetable only in 2000.

Depending on the variety, watermelon radish can have a variety of shapes and colors of flesh. It can be flattened, oval and round. The color of the pulp is snow-white, lemon, red and purple. There are varieties with double color. The pulp is beautiful, juicy and sweet. The root vegetable got its name not because of its watermelon taste, but because of its original sweet pulp. Radish acquires a pronounced taste as it ripens.

Regardless of the variety, the size of the red radish does not exceed 8 cm. The skin of the watermelon radish is light olive in color. Thanks to the dense peel, the crop tolerates transportation well, but the shelf life of the vegetable does not exceed 2-3 months. To increase the shelf life, the crop should be stored in a cool room, since at room temperature, watermelon radish loses its presentation and sweet taste.

The leaf rosette is semi-erect, medium-sized, dark olive in color with jagged edges. The average weight of a root crop is 100-150 g.

Red radish is an early-ripening hybrid that can withstand weather changes and slight spring frosts. In regions with an unstable climate, seeds are planted under film cover in mid-April, and if agrotechnical rules are followed, the first harvest can be harvested after 35 days.

Watermelon radish is a high-yielding variety. Due to its rapid ripening, the crop can be harvested several times a season. The largest harvest is obtained in August, from 1 sq. m, subject to proper care, you can harvest from 8 kg of fruit.

Red radish is resistant to diseases and pests. But in order to avoid serious problems, it is necessary to carry out preventive measures in a timely manner: watering by sprinkling, removing weeds, loosening the soil.

Important! Watermelon radish does not develop in high air humidity, so in regions with rainy summers it is recommended to grow the root crop under a film cover.

To appreciate the beauty of red radish, you need to look at the photo, but to get an idea of the taste, it is advisable to grow watermelon radish in your garden.