I think I can honestly say I have never heard of anyone preserving radishes except by slicing and dehydrating to make radish chips. They just aren't something one normally thinks of canning because they have so few uses except for fresh eating.

That doesn't mean you can't do it however. While there aren't any tested and approved recipes that I can think of off hand - just no demand for them - Google pulls up recipes for pickling and for radish relish.

I can't attest to the safety of any of the recipes. But since radish is even more low-acid than cucumbers at 5.8-6.5 any preserving brine would almost have to be pure undiluted vinegar.

Personally I'd consider them a great addition to my compost pile for future garden crops. :-)

Dave

Thanks, Dave. Honestly, I don't even like radishes... just planted them so the kidlings could see them grow and use them as spacers for the carrots that I did want. I was just hoping that I could do something with them.

Radish chips, really? That sounds... awful.

Not really preserving them, but with that age, you could consider using them to paint with. Find some nice washable paints, then cut shapes into them, letting the squirts use them to make stamps. Then see what they can paint--for instance a triangle used to create....houses, tree leaves, etc...

Never done this with radishes--my 4 year old has used potatoes, and bell peppers.

I know freezing DOESN'T work. You can feed them to cows or pigs due to chocking hazard, unless ground up. My chickens didn't enjoy them either.

Maybe just the learning experience. Next year, try peas or purple beans, both enjoyable kid experiences and easy to pick. My grandkids have been planting since they could walk, in different stages.

My favorite way to eat radishes is fermented. I slice them and use a 5.4% brine made with three tablespoons of salt to one quart of room temperature water. I include a clove or two of garlic and a cayenne pepper. I use the methods described in Linda Ziedrich's Joy of Pickling. They are my family's favorite fermented food.

Do you ferment them whole or sliced? I'd like to try this!

Thanks,
Deanna

There is a recipe for Radish Relish in Sherri Vinton's "Put 'Em Up" book. I haven't tried it. She says everything in there meets the current guidelines.

Sarah

Haven't done this, but heard you can oven roast radishes and they taste like turnips but really mild, in other words yummy!
I did pickle radishes once, and was put off by the smell......but that's just me.