and fresh. If you are buying radishes in plastic bags, check them carefully through the plastic
to see that they are free of mold.
Avoid: Misshapen radishes, spongy radishes, radishes with soft spots (which suggest decay
or discoloration underneath), and withered or dry radishes (they have lost vitamin C, which
is sensitive to oxygen).
Storing This Food
Cut off any green tops and refrigerate fresh radishes in plastic bags to keep them from
drying out.
Preparing This Food
Scrub the radishes under cold running water. Cut off the tops and the roots. Don’t slice or
grate radishes until you are ready to use them. When you cut into a radish, you tear its cells,
releasing moisture that converts an otherwise mild chemical called sinigrin into an irritant
mustard oil that gives radishes their hot taste.
What Happens When You Cook This Food
How Other Kinds of Processing Affect This Food
Prepared horseradish. Prepared horseradish should be used within a few weeks after you
open the bottle. The longer it is exposed to air, the more bitter (rather than spicy) its mustard
oils will be.
Medical Uses and/or Benefits
Lower risk of some kinds of cancer. Indoles, isothiocyanates, glucosinolates, dithiolethiones,
and phenols, naturally occurring in radishes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower,
and other cruciferous vegetables, appear to reduce the risk of some cancers, perhaps by pre-
venting the formation of carcinogens in your body or by blocking cancer-causing substances
from reaching or reacting with sensitive body tissues or by inhibiting the transformation of
healthy cells to malignant ones.
Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and other cruciferous vegetables all contain
sulforaphane, a member of a family of chemicals known as isothiocyanates. In experiments
Radishes