An old Chinese winter radish variety, brought to the Western world in the 1800s. The mature form is a large elongated root with bright pink skin and white-rosy flesh, kept all winter long in East Asian root cellars and pickling crocks. For sprouts and microgreens, the variety's visual signature concentrates in the stem colour: bright luminous magenta-pink that contrasts beautifully against the tiny heart-shaped tender-green cotyledons — comparable to the effect of red cabbage, but with a warmer, rosier hue.
Classic radish flavour as a sprout: pungent, mustardy, crisp (the same isothiocyanates chemistry already detailed for Wasabi radish, shared across the entire Brassica family), with a slightly milder, more vegetal note than the round red radishes. Juicy, crunchy texture.
Excellent in sandwiches (where they add bite along with colour), on Asian bowls, on tacos, on fish tartare, or as a colourful touch in a salad. As microgreens the visual effect is so striking that they've become one of the celebrity microgreens of chefs and food photographers — laid in a small tuft on a white plate, they "finish" the dish like a signature.
- Soaking: not required (small seeds); optional 4-6 hours.
- Germination time: 2-3 days.
- Sprout harvest: 4-6 days after soaking begins.
- Microgreen harvest: 8-12 days after sowing.
- Yield: about 1 tsp of seeds produces a 20 × 20 cm tray of microgreens.
- Best uses: sandwiches, tacos, fish tartare, photogenic garnishes.
