Spring may be here, but it still feels too much like Winter :(
But while it's still cold and rainy outside, things are happening underground!  Vegetables are growing. Our radishes are just beginning to appear. We harvested our first batch last weekend. They're a bit gnarly from all the various frosts, but they were peppery, sharp and crunchy.

As a medicinal plant, radishes are very good for the liver. They contain a variety of sulfur-based chemicals that reportedly increase the flow of bile. While that doesn't exactly sound very appealing, it is very healthy for you. By helping to move toxins through the body, radishes help maintain the gallbladder and aid in digestion. As part of the cruciferous vegetable family, like cabbage, broccoli and kale, radishes also contain cancer-protective properties.

While I love preparing radishes various ways, my mother, who is of Scandinavian origin, says the best way for her is eating them the traditional Swedish way, which is raw with a little kosher salt.  Myself, I love snacking on them with a little ranch dressing on the side. 

But we don't stop at the radish, we also eat the radish leaves. Yes, you can eat the leaves of the radish, as long as they have not been sprayed with pesticides. So don't try it with supermarket bought radishes, unless they're organically grown and very fresh. 

In the summertime, along with the radish root, I like to add the radish leaves to salads for a little extra greenery.  Another tasty way to prepare them is to saute them with a little garlic and olive oil. Sauted they have the consistency of broccoli rabe, minus the sharp taste. Radish leaves are more benign, but still tasty. Once you saute them, serve them as a vegetable or over pasta, like linguini or even angel hair. They are light enough.

Radishes and their leaves are an excellent source of vitamin C and fiber.  The leaves are said to contain almost six times the vitamin C content of the root portion and are also a good source of calcium. New research is also coming out that shows radishes to be good for treating thyroid disorders, especially the black radish. I am on a search to try those.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, radishes were once so valued in ancient Greece that golden statues were built in their image. Not bad for a small, lowly root vegetable, once considered only acceptable for rabbits.