Fast Facts
- 40m packs of radish were sold in the UK last year
That is roughly 8,000,000 kilos (8,000 tonnes) – 700 more tonnes than the Eiffel tower. It is also equal to 40 blue whales, or even 900,000 crates of beer!
- If you put all of the radish in 40m packs end to end, it would stretch for 1 billion cm (10,000 kilometres) that would take you from London to New Delhi where you could go and enjoy a famous Kashmiri Radish Curry
- To see a garden of radishes in your dream, signifies prosperous business and kind friends. To dream that you are eating a radish, denotes that your feelings will be slightly hurt as a result of the thoughtlessness of someone near you. To dream that you are planting radishes, foretells that your heart's desires will be happily realized.
- Fast growing crop: Radishes are a fast growing crop and grow from seed to eating plant in 25 days, making them the first UK field-grown salad vegetables to come into season in April.
- Did you know radishes can cure ills? Radishes can help with stomach ache and hiccups (but too many can make you burp …. !)
- Radish Oil: Radish seeds were an important source of oil in Ancient Egypt before olive trees were introduced to the country. Certain varieties of radish are still grown for oil production today. Although not popular for human consumption (the flavour is very strong) they have potential as a bio-fuel.
- Night of the Radishes: In Oaxaca in Mexico, December 23rd is known as “The Night of the Radishes” (Noche de Rabanos). The festival features depictions of all kinds of subjects, including nativity scenes - all carved from radishes!
- Radishes in literature: In the novel ‘Gone with the Wind’ it was after attempting to eat a radish – the only food she could get – that a starving Scarlett O’Hara declared, “As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.”
- Peter Rabbit – a naughty radish fan: Our very own Peter Rabbit enjoyed his radishes and famously ate a rather long variety known as the Long Scarlet in an illustration from the Beatrix Potter book.
- Hot weather, hot radishes: If it’s a long, hot summer, you get hotter radishes and similarly when it’s milder you get cooler radishes.
- Ancient Wages: Radishes, onions and garlic were paid as ‘wages’ to the Ancient Egyptian labourers who built the Pyramids.
- Giant radishes: Some varieties of radish can grow up to 3ft long, weighing 100lbs (45kg). Needless to say, you’re unlikely to see these in your local supermarket!
