Raphanus sativus.

The classic red radish — the very image that comes to mind when you say the word: a perfect, luminous little scarlet ball set on its tuft of green leaves like a cherry forgotten in the vegetable garden. A Dutch variety originally selected for its near-mathematical roundness and uniform colour, Cherry Belle won the All-America Selections award in 1949 and has since become the absolute standard for the round red radish in North America — the variety against which all others are measured, and the one found in most North American family gardens for three generations.

Different in shape and speed from the French Breakfast, the Black Spanish (large, black, long-keeping), the Daikon (Asian, giant) and the Wasabi radish (pungent root and foliage), this is the everyday radish — the first harvest of the spring garden, and probably the best entry point for anyone starting to garden.

Perfectly round little roots 2-3 cm in diameter, intense scarlet red, with pure white firm crunchy flesh. Classic radish flavour: mild and juicy when picked young, sharper at full maturity, with that small mustardy note characteristic of the Brassica family (also found in mustard, wasabi and horseradish — all rich in isothiocyanates, the volatile compounds responsible for that pungent sensation in the mouth).

Classic but always pleasing uses: sliced raw in salad, snacked whole with a little knob of butter and a pinch of fleur de sel as an aperitif (the radish-butter-salt combination is the French snack par excellence), grated into an open-faced sandwich, quick-pickled in rice vinegar to accompany an Asian bowl, or simply chewed straight out of the soil, still warm — the flavour is unmatched. Don't throw away the leaves: briefly sautéed like spinach, they are delicate and delicious.

Grower's tip: One of the fastest vegetables in the garden — 22-25 days from sowing to harvest — making it probably the first vegetable a child can watch grow and harvest in their own garden. Direct-sow only (the radish hates being moved), as soon as the soil can be worked in spring (mid-April in Québec) and until late August for staggered sowings. For continuous, always-fresh production, sow a thin row each week or every two weeks rather than all at once — otherwise you end up with 200 radishes ripening together and hardening as they wait to be eaten. Thin imperatively to 3 cm in the row after emergence; without thinning, the roots stay tiny and fibrous. Radish tolerates light part shade in summer (in full sun and high heat, it bolts quickly, going hollow and pungent), making it an excellent crop to slip between others more demanding for space and sun — a small under-cover crop, in tight rows beneath tomatoes or corn.

• Open-pollinated. Heritage variety, AAS winner 1949. Annual. Insect-pollinated; crosses with other radishes (Wasabi, Daikon, Black Spanish, French Breakfast — all Raphanus sativus) — isolate for seed saving.
• Height: 15-20 cm (foliage).
• Maturity: 22-25 days.
• Exposure: full sun in spring and fall; part shade accepted in summer.
• Loose, well-drained, moderately rich soil. Thin to 3 cm in the row after emergence.
• Direct-sow mid-April to late August in Québec, in staggered sowings every 1-2 weeks for continuous harvest. Tolerates light spring and autumn frosts well.