Spring Radish Primer

In ancient Greece, there was a vegetable so revered that Greeks offered pure-gold replicas to Apollo, god of sun, light, music, poetry, prophecy, and more. The prized produce? Radishes. (Beets, on the other hand, were cast in silver; lowly turnips, lead.) Glorifying radishes sure makes sense to me: In their crisp, peppery-hot raw state, these colorful roots can enhance salads or crudités platters or star in an elegant appetizer where I generally like to complement their pungency with sweet and/or creamy ingredients. If the fire of raw radishes is not your thing, then cooking them—whether sautéing, braising, or roasting—is the way to go.

That’s because their assertiveness comes from a compound created by an enzyme in their skins