Rat Tailed Radishes
I first tried Rat tailed radish pods are few years ago when I was given a few to eat by Mohamed an elderly plot holder on my allotment site. Rat tail radish pods are the result of letting your radish go to seed, they grow from anything between two to six feet high depending on the variety used. There are many different varieties that will give you different sized and flavoured pods, I grow Munchen Bier Radish which produce edible pods between one and two inches long. I have just cropped a huge amount of radish pods from the three plants in our back garden, some have been eaten raw during the last week and the remainder have been pickled using an old English recipe. Rat tail radishes will always be a part of my garden, they are a dual purpose crop that be used as a normal radish or grown on to produce an abundance of tasty pods. With food prices seemingly always on the rise they pods are great food to grow due to the huge amount of pods they provide during the month of June.
How to pickle Rat tail radish pods
Collect and wash enough radish pods to fill four 454gram jars, pour cold water over them and add two good tablespoons of salt, stir the salt in gently for around 20 seconds. Cover the pan with a lid and leave to stand overnight. Drain the water from the pan, boil it up in a separate pan and pour it over the radish pods, leave them covered until the pods and liquid cool down. Put the pods in sterilised jars with one washed red chilli in each jar Boil a pint of white wine vinegar and pour over the radish pods until they are completely covered by the vinegar, screw the lid of the jar on tightly and leave to stand for two months before eating.