Giving new meaning to ‘topping off’

Although I am far from being a ‘zero waster‘, I do attempt to use up all of the food I buy. As I investigate ways to use every scrap (using the EYB Library, of course), I am continually amazed by the number of things I don’t know about parts of the produce that I buy or grow. That point was driven home when I saw the recent article in The Guardian about surprising ways to use radish leaves in cooking. 

Radishes were always part of my family’s small suburban garden plot. Since they were one of the first plants to reach maturity, it was always a delight to pluck the cherry red orbs from the ground and munch on them (usually with just a sprinkling of salt). They never lasted long enough to use any other way, as hungry as we were for the first taste of summer. 

Although we relished the crunchy roots, we never thought much about the tops. They were lopped off and chucked back into the garden. As I learned after making carrot top pesto for the first time, I need to think twice before discarding the tops of root vegetables. It shouldn’t have surprised me that radish greens were tasty, too. 

The article contains a recipe for a spanakopita style pie, but you can find many other recipes in the EYB Library to use up your next batch of radish tops. I have already bookmarked Radish leaf soup with caraway, Tomato & blueberry salad, and Radish top aioli (from Food52, pictured above).