sweet pickled radishes with mustard seed and dill

Bright red radishes. They’re gorgeous. I want to love them, but I just don’t. They’re a little too peppery for me; they’ve got just a little bit too much bite. That doesn’t mean I don’t like them at all. My vegetable cream cheese isn’t nearly as good without one or two chopped radishes in the mix. And I like them in salads, in small doses. But the key words here are “one or two,” and “small doses.” You can’t buy one or two radishes. They come in a bunch. And several times when I’ve bought them, the bulk of them have gone to waste.

I hate waste. So this week, when I noticed a bunch of radishes in the fridge threatening to become compost, I thought “not this time!” I’m not wasting these beautiful little globes.

But what to do with them … hmmmm … Then I thought about how wonderful pickled turnips are, stuffed into a pita with falafel and other vegetables. Why not pickle them?

I did a cursory search and found out what clearly everyone knows—pickled radishes are definitely a thing. Especially so with Korean fried chicken. So I researched a bunch of recipes to get a feeling for how it’s done and then searched the pantry (my daughter’s pantry—I’ve been staying with her) to see what was available. I knew that I wanted them to be tangy—they’re pickles—but also sweet.

Pickles begin with vinegar. I found rice vinegar, malt vinegar, and a very pretty bottle of strawberry rosé vinegar. No ordinary white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.

I decided to go with the pink one. Then I rummaged through her spice drawer and searched her fridge to see what fresh herbs I could find, and I made a pickling brine out of what I could cobble together. I heated some water, added sugar and salt, and stirred until it was all dissolved. Then I added the fancy vinegar, some mustard seeds, a bay leaf, and some chopped dill. Dill made sense to me; dill pickles are a classic. I sliced the radishes thinly, by hand—although a mandoline would have been nice—and added them to the pickling concoction. After slicing the radishes, the whole procedure took about 5 minutes. Note: I see a lot of people slice them thinner than I did. I wanted them to have a bit more tooth to them, so I went with ¼“.

I stuffed the whole shebang into a jar, stuck it in the fridge, and waited to see what the result would be. Two days later, I opened the jar and tasted them.

Eureka! Now I love radishes. These absolutely addicting. They’ll be fabulous in falafel, but will also enhance all sorts of sandwiches, including burgers. They’ll also be fabulous as part of a relish tray with other pickled and marinated vegetables, and assorted nibbles.

So here’s my recipe for quick, delicious, sweet pickled radishes.

I’m sure these will work with white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, champagne vinegar… whatever you have on hand, as long as it’s 5% acidity.

Sweet Pickled Radishes 

Ingredients:

• I bunch of round red radishes, or whatever kind of radishes you’d like to use (there were 16 medium radishes in my bunch)

• 1 cup water

• 1 cup vinegar of your choice

• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt  

• 2 tablespoons white sugar   

• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds

• 2 bay leaves

• The fronds from a couple of sprigs of dill, finely chopped         

Method:

• Heat the water as if for tea, then pour it into a bowl. Add the sugar and salt, and stir until it’s all dissolved. Set it aside to cool.

• Add the vinegar, the mustard seeds, the bay leaves, and the dill to the bowl.

• Wash the radishes well to remove all dirt and little root hairs, and trim their “heads and tails” flush with the globes.

• Slice the radishes very thinly, about ¼,” either by hand or with a mandoline. (or cut them any way you like)

• Add the radish slices to the bowl and use your fingers to mix it well, making sure all the slices are separated and coated.

• Transfer the radishes with their brine to a jar, or multiple jars, and stick it/them in the fridge for a couple of days to marinate.

Notes:

If you’d like your pickled radishes to be less sweet, use less sugar.

I would have also considered adding coriander seeds and cumin seeds. Next time, I’ll throw in a couple of cloves of garlic, sliced.

One could also add peppercorns or some red pepper flakes. If you want them to be really spicy, add your favorite hot pepper to the mix.