Are radish greens safe to eat?
Why yes, they are. And tasty too. I have spasms of guilt about throwing out any food, so I decided to figure out a way to use these. Radish greens are a bit too bitter and/or spicy for smoothies for my taste, but they make a great soup. After searching chowhound for general ideas and after a bit of experimentation, this soup has become my go-to way to avoid wasting organically grown green leaves.
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove of elephant garlic, chopped
1 large starchy potato, cubed but not peeled
1/2 tsp of salt
2 cups of water or vegetable stock*
chopped radish greens**
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 cup non-dairy or dairy sour cream
Heat the oil in a medium-sized pot and saute the onion and garlic. Add the salt, potato, and water or stock and let it simmer for 5 minutes or until the potatoes are very soft. Add the radish greens and let it simmer another 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the soup cool a bit before transferring to a blender to puree. (I use an old immersion stick blender that my mom bought me for a birthday several years ago.) Stir in the nutmeg and the sour cream.
*If you use stock instead of water, you might want to skip the 1/2 tsp of added salt.
**Radish greens can be notoriously gritty and muddy. Chop them first then leave them in a large bowl of cold water while you start the soup. Give them a few swirls and pick them off the top of the water, leaving the grit to sink to the bottom.
Posted on Wed, September 10, 2014
by Heidi Gilchrist