Experimenting With Daikons

This was my first year for growing daikon radishes. They are very popular in Asian cooking, probably best known as an ingredient in kimchi (Korean lacto-fermented vegetables). In hunting areas they are referred to as "forage radishes" and commonly included in deer forage plots. Livestock will graze the greens too. I grew them as a cover crop, because they are excellent for helping to loosen and add organic matter to heavy or compacted soils. They've grown well, so how could I not experiment a bit to see how I could add them to our diet?

For ideas, I turned to Farmer John's Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables. (Out of print, but reasonably priced used copies are still available.) I like this book because it's organized by season and discusses many of the less common vegetables - like daikons.

The roots and greens of young tender plants can be eaten raw. 

Chopped daikon greens and sliced roots in salad.

Mature leaves can be added to soups, so why not as a cooked green?

Daikon greens sauteed in bacon grease with salt, pepper, & onions.

The flavor is strong; similar to turnip greens. The next day I used the leftover greens to make soup for lunch.

Cream of greens soup uses a white sauce base. I added the leftover
cooked greens plus about 1/4 cup caramelized red onion chutney.

Yummy! The chutney (link will take you to the recipe) added just a hint of sweet and sour, which complimented the natural flavor of the greens.

Next experiment, oven-roasted daikon roots and sweet potatoes.

Seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Roasted, the daikons were fairly mild and similar to turnips.

And of course I made a batch of kimchi. I do quite a bit of lacto-fermenting, but I've never tried kimchi, because I've never had the daikons. I looked at recipes in Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions and Sandor Katz's Wild Fermentation, also Jo's timely "Making Kimchi Cockeyed Style" blog post over at The Cockeyed Homestead. I didn't have all the ingredients to follow any of these recipes exactly, so I bought a few things from the organic produce section at the grocery store for my own variation.

Napa cabbage, ginger, daikon radishes, and carrots.

Veggies chopped & fermenting in a solution of water, salt, & whey.

It will be ready in a couple of weeks. It makes my mouth water just to think about it! LOL

I'm glad I stumbled across this wonderful root vegetable, because besides its culinary versatility it's healthy too. According to OrganicFacts website, daikons contain calcium, vitamin C, digestive enzymes, and are high in fiber. They have a number of health-promoting properties: antibacterial, antiviral, expectorant, and antioxidant. It's a diuretic, so it helps the body detoxify. Looks like I've found a new garden staple.

Do you grow daikons? How do you use them? Any more recipe ideas?

Experimenting With Daikons © Nov 2018 by

Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Random Cat Shots

Like I have nothing better to do. 😺

Meowy, the quintessential barn cat.

And Sam, who just likes to be comfortable.

Random Cat Shots © November 2018 by

Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

House Project Phase 2: Pantry Roof

Please take a few minutes to click here and answer

my Research Question. Thank you for your help!

Phase 1 was installing the siding on the back gable end of the house. Phase 2 was dealing with the leak in the roof.

Photo from last spring, when we first discovered the leak.

Down came the gutter and old fascia board. With the fascia board gone Dan could see that the ends of the rafters were in bad shape. To assess the extent of the damage he cut away a section of the roof.

You can see why the roof was sagging in the first photo.

This happened because the builder didn't extend the edge of the roof out far enough. That meant rain water could leak behind and underneath.

Fortunately they were only rotted at the ends. He didn't have to replace them entirely (which would have meant tearing up the entire roof). He just needed to sister in new ends.

Then he put back the section of roof he removed, and a new fascia board was added.

Then it was on to the roof itself. The leak was caused by the way the roofer installed the shingles. An asphalt shingle has a series of flaps with cutouts separating the flaps.

Asphalt shingle

The first row is started at the edge of the roof, and they are nailed in place above the cutouts. The next row goes on top and is supposed to cover the nails.

Properly installed asphalt shingles.

Whoever installed our pantry roof left nails exposed through the cutouts.

The most logical fix was to cover the entire roof. For that we chose metal panels. Dan considered a number of ways to do this job, but finally decided that simplest was best. And quickest!

You can also get a glimpse of Dan's solution
to that odd angle on the roof - he boxed it out.

These are the same metal roofing panels we put on the barn, but the pantry roof is steeper, so Dan had trouble walking on them. No traction. To put on the ridge cap he used a rubber-backed runner rug to keep from slipping and sliding. It worked very well.

Also a "boot" for the bathroom vent pipe.

The next day we got two inches of rain. The roof was secure and snug.

The last step will be painting the fascia and siding, and then putting the gutters back up. Happily, the forecast calls for sunny, mild temps over the week or so to get that done.

House Project Phase 2: Pantry Roof © Nov 2018 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/