Small-radish

SMALL-RADISH

Annual or biennial plant is from Radish species, Brassicaceae family. Small-radish is grown as edible plant in many countries.

It's name came from Latin word radix and mean root. We consume small-radish roots that have thickness of 3 cm and covered with thin skin that usually has red, pink or whitish-pink colour. It has flavor taste, as this fruits contain mustard oil. Colour of root can be pink, white, red, yellow and violet.

Small-radish is used as a vegetable crop almost in all coutries. We consumed both roots ( in salads and Okroshka (cold kvass soup with vegetables and cooked meat)) and leaves ( in salads, okroshkas and soups). Small-radish is valuable as early-ripening variety. It is possible to sow small-radish in green-houses in March (Russia) and in April you can transplant it in soil. Early-ripening ability of fruit and large content of vitamins make small-radish popular in the regions where people need to improve their immune system after long winter. Moreover transplanting is easy for small-radish. Also small-radish is used for marking beds of onion and carrot. Small-radish sprouts appears in 2-3 days so it's possible to elaborate beds before the appearance of other crops. Small-radish roots form in 3-5 weeks.

Motherland of small-radish is Asia where together with Egypt, Greece and Rome it was grown in ancient times. Then people a little forgot about this crop and in 16 century in France it became popular again. It spread from France around Europe. In Russia small-radish appeared thanks to Petro the first who brought this vegetable from Amsterdam. Nowadays small-radish is grown in many countries and regions.