Radishes! Autumn is their second season.

Radishes! Autumn is their second season.

Usually we associate radishes as one of the first spring vegetables our freshness-starved palates crave after a long winter.  But in Maine, these cool-weather-loving crucifers  of the Brassica family, including cabbage, kale, collards, and turnips, come around again in Autumn. Their greens are slightly peppery and are lovely in salads, sautéed or added directly to soups. The zingy roots are excellent raw and can also be roasted with a pan full of like-minded root vegetables. They also ferment very well. Just like cabbage creates sauerkraut, you can do a lacto-ferment treatment on radishes that results in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, cancer risk-reducing isothiocyanates, and also the probiotic micro-biome benefit of a fermented food.

Try fuchsia-centered watermelon radishes, easter egg colored, long white-tipped french breakfast, and my favorite: the sinister Darth-Vader-style black radishes.