Daikon- Another Health Food

[Call me bubba]

in a previous topic was discussing various foods here in the RP that has health benefits. buko.coconut, and some others,

i came across this food item .maybe this can be of use to some of the FM.

 

Daikon is a white root vegetable often seen in Japanese and Chinese cuisine that resembles a carrot. However, unlike a carrot's sweetness, daikon is spicy and tart, similar to a radish. Its pungent and sharp flavor can be enjoyed raw, pickled, or cooked.

 

The white pigment in daikon is called anthoxanthin, which is an antioxidant that may lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

 

In Asian cuisine, daikon is often eaten alongside meaty dishes, and is said to aid in digestion and breakdown of oil, fatty animal protein, and dairy

. Cooked daikon has a similar texture and flavor to turnips.

Daikon is in season during the cold weather months, so if you've picked some up recently here's a quick and simple sauté preparation.

 

Daikon cleanses the blood, promotes energy circulation and increases the metabolic rate. It contains diuretics, decongestants and, in terms of phytochemicals, the digestive enzymes diastase, amylase and esterase. This makes it a primary ingredient in a great variety of home remedies.

Regular use of daikon helps prevent the common cold, flu and respiratory infections. Daikon treats hangovers, sore throats, colds and edema, and it helps cleanse the kidneys and decongest the lungs. This restorative vegetable also has anticarcinogenic properties.

 

Daikon has properties that help counter obesity. But no one food is a cure-all for extra weight. View overweight as a sign of an overall imbalance in the body. By upgrading your diet to whole (versus refined or processed) foods and by reducing carbohydrate consumption most overweight problems resolve themselves, specific medical conditions notwithstanding

[JJReyes]

I agree that daikon is a good tuber to include in your diet. The photograph is my mother-in-law taken in California last year. She buys about 70 daikons a year for herself and to give away to friends so they would eat more healthy. Look at the sizes! My job was to carry them to the car one at a time. By the way, my mother-in-law was 90 years when the photograph was taken. Healthy is an under statement. The doctors at UCLA keep asking her to maintain a diary of her diet. She is too busy. Has a cellular phone, but refuses to let anyone program the phone numbers of 70+ friends. Her theory: if you are too dependent on the phone, what happens when you misplace it? She is a master teacher of the Shamisen, a Japanese classical instrument  One requirement is to committ to memory over 200 musical scores. Must be the daikon or something else in her diet. But the doctors at UCLA have to wait another ten years for her to slow down and have time to start a diary of what she eats.

[Will]

We eat this regularly in our house. A salad is made out of daikon, onion, tomato, vinegar, and who knows what else. It's really good, though. When I was a little kid, I used to eat the red radishes you get in America. Daikon is just as good, if not better, tasting than the red round kind.

Edited March 17, 2013 by Will

[Bruce]

Sure sure.... spend many years eating well, watching your diet like Euell Gibbons and DROP DEAD at age 64! I guess eating PINE TREES did him little good...... See Below off Wikipedia.

 

 

A 1974 television commercial for Post Grape-Nuts cereal featured Gibbons asking viewers "Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible." While he recommended eating Grape Nuts over eating pine trees (Grape Nuts' taste "reminds me of wild hickory nuts"), the quote caught the public's imagination and fueled his celebrity status. Johnny Carson joked about sending Gibbons a "lumber-gram", and Gibbons himself joined in the humor; when presented with a wooden award plaque by Sonny and Cher, he good-naturedly took a bite out of it. (The "plaque" was actually an edible prop.)

 

Often mistaken for a survivalist, Gibbons was simply an advocate of nutritious but neglected plants. He typically prepared these not in the wild, but in the kitchen with abundant use of spices, butter and garnishes. Several of his books discuss what he called "wild parties": dinner parties where guests were served dishes prepared from plants gathered in the wild. His favorite recommendations included lamb's quarters, rose hips, young dandelion shoots, stinging nettle and cattails. He often pointed out that gardeners threw away the more tasty and healthy crop when they pulled such weeds as purslane and amaranth out from among their spinach plants.

 

Gibbons died on December 29, 1975, at Sunbury Community Hospital in Sunbury, Pennsylvania.[1] His death was the result of a ruptured aortic aneurysm, a complication from Marfan syndrome.

 

So please excuse me as I have a date with a nasty old fat burger...... If I am going to die anyway, it might as well be from hardening of the arteries .................................................... whilst being shot to death by the jealous boy friend of that fine looking Pinay nurse...... At least I died with a smile on my face! :hystery:  

[Old55]

Back on topic........

 

 

I had no idea they had medicinal property's thanks for the topic. We eat Daikon often. Its good raw, in soup or pickled. All the larger grocery stores here stock them but they have very little taste they do have a wonderful crunch to them though.

Filipino spicy vinegar is good on em but I like the sweet pickled recipe best.

 

 

 

From Food Network Tyler Florence

Ingredients

1 cup rice vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 pound daikon radish
1/4 cup kosher salt

Directions

In a small saucepan over medium heat add the vinegar, water, sugar, and turmeric. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and allow it to cool.

Meanwhile, peel the daikon radish and slice into 1/4-inch thick rounds. (If your daikon is very large, slice the rounds into semicircles.) Place in a colander with salt and mix well. Place the colander over a bowl and let drain for 1 hour. Rinse the salt off with a couple of changes of water and dry the daikon well. Put into a sterilized glass jar. Pour the cooled brine through a coffee filter (or a cheesecloth lined strainer) into the jar to cover the radish slices. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Will keep for about 2 weeks.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/sweet-pickled-daikon-radish-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

[i am bob]

Believe it or not, there is a mild version that, once peeled, boiled and mashed, does pretty good replacing mashed potatoes!  First time I had daikon this way, it was with a really great roast beef, gravy, yorkshire pudding, peas and I was in heaven!

[JJReyes]

Believe it or not, there is a mild version that, once peeled, boiled and mashed, does pretty good replacing mashed potatoes! First time I had daikon this way, it was with a really great roast beef, gravy, yorkshire pudding, peas and I was in heaven!

 

My wife and son both boil cauliflower and then mash it. Tastes like mashed potatoes. I will suggest they try daikon.