You can eat seed pods with your radish plants – here is the way

Every season, I make some of my radish plants into flowers and seeds. Some people leave to collect seeds for next season, while others forget in the shadows of other plants.

So you can find such intertwined grape messes in your garden and end up with an overly ripe radish plant. It becomes a plant that is over four feet tall and is filled with small white flowers and thin green pods.

At this stage, most people think that they will do the plants throughout the season. The radish itself is too woody or fibrous for a diet, and its leaves are dying or damaged by aphids and other pests.

But the gardeners who know it know that this is not the end of the plant. And it’s far from there.

These pointy green seed pods are actually the last thing that comes from the radish plant, and the pods are so delicious that they are a harvest worth the wait.

You read it correctly: you can eat a pod of radish seeds.

Read more: Other common plants you haven’t grown were edible

Find a pointy pod

Radish sown from spring to summer begins mid-summer to autumn. In mild winter climates, radish can be sown in autumn in autumn. The plant then produces seed pods at the end of spring when the plant is bolted.

The crisp green pods appear a few weeks after the radish has passed the picking prime. Therefore, if you sow more radish than you can eat, it will not be wasted. Get bonus crops at the end of the season.

Radish seeds form in thin, elongated pods on tall, upright stems that reach 4-5 feet. Single flower stems can produce dozens of seed pods at various stages of maturation, so there are very many radish plants and do not result in significant pod harvests.

Each radish pod is 1-2 inches long and tapered with a narrow cylindrical shape to the point.

Collecting and eating green seed pods can help you extend the harvest period of radish that is much longer than usual. Think of it as undiscarded gardening! (This is one of my favorite lazy gardening strategies to get more food out of my garden without planting more plants.)

If you leave the pods ripe on the stems (a few weeks after they are displayed), they will dry, turn yellow or brown, revealing small black or brown seeds.

Related: How to store seeds from the garden

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Radish varieties that produce edible seed pods

All radish plants form edible seed pods (and there are also wild radish if you come across them on hiking), and even a heirloom variety called rat tail radish is cultivated for its large, soft seed pods.

However, I have produced delicious pods for a few weeks, with all sorts of radish, from winter and Japanese radish to popular petite French breakfasts and spring Easter egg blends.

Harvest method

If the pod is still fresh and green, collect the pods, but the seeds inside are beginning to develop. The radish pods will swell a bit (like a pea pod) and stretch out the meat and make for a better meal.

To harvest the pods in your kitchen, you can stick the pods into your garden by pulling them away from the stems or cutting off the entire stem.

Most stems have radish pods at every stage of maturity, and personally I would only want one that is firmly formed, as they pack more flavor and texture.

So, what do they taste like?

The radish pod tastes like radish, but it has a more concentrated flavor. They range from mild to spicy (depending on the variety), but are always crispy and fresh and fashionable. They are best eaten raw, straight from the stems or raw, pickled in a jar.

Seed pods from winter radish tend to have a milder flavor than radish seed pods in spring or summer, but the texture is the same.

The tip may be cut off, especially if it is long and pointed, but the entire pod is edible.

Read next: The difference between winter radish and spring radish

What to do with the radish pod

Radish pods can usually be used where radish is used: leafy salads, tacoscoping, pitas, wraps.

But my favorite way to eat them is to soak them first. They taste amazing on their own, and even more amazing as a side dish on a bed of side dishes and some grilled meat.

You can chopped a handful of pickled radish pods and use them like capers in an omelette or noodles bowl, or skewer them with a toothpick to decorate a Bloody Mary, and add pepper bites.

Try this: Sweet and spicy quick radish

Make some jars of pickled radish seeds and keep them on hand as a final gift or a potluck donation.

Pickled radish seed pod

Make 3 cups

material

1 cup of water
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp Kosher salt
Two radish seed pods piled up

Instructions

In a small pot over medium heat, mix the water, rice vinegar, wine vinegar, sugar and salt, stirring until the grains are dissolved. Let the brine cool to room temperature.

Bottle the radish pods and pour salted water over them to make sure the pods are completely submerged.

Pickles from direct sunlight at room temperature, serve for at least 4 hours. Pickle in the fridge overnight for the best flavor.

When you’ve finished using pickles: Tips on how to run out of remaining pickled brine

This post was updated from an article originally published on April 22, 2013.