Daikon | ||||||||||||||||||
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A pile of daikon radishes.
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Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||||
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Raphanus sativus subsp. longipinnatus L. |
Daikon (だいこん?) (from Japanese daikon (大根), literally "large root") is the Japanese name for a mild-flavored, very large, white, East Asian radish. Despite being known most commonly by its Japanese name, it did not originate in Japan, but rather in continental Asia. The radish is also known by other names, including winter, Japanese, or Chinese radish; mooli in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, and Bihari; Mula in Assamese and Bengali; moolah in Nepali; moorro in Gujarati; moollangi in Tamil and Telugu; mu in Korean; lobak, loh bak, lo-bok, or lo bok in Cantonese; labanos in Tagalog; and rabu, phakkat-hua, or củ cải trắng in Vietnamese.[2]
Although there are many varieties of daikon, the most common in Japan, the Aokubi Daikon, has the shape of a giant carrot, approximately 20 to 35 cm (8 to 14 inches) long and 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 inches) in diameter. One of the most unusually shaped varieties of daikon is the Sakurajima from Kagoshima Prefecture, shaped like an oversized turnip with white outside and bright pink inside.
The flavour is generally rather mild compared to other small radishes.
Contents |
Culture
The variety 'Long White Icicle' is available as seed in Britain, and will grow very successfully in Southern England, producing roots resembling a parsnip by midsummer in good garden soil in an average year.
Storage
The roots can be stored for some weeks without the leaves if lifted and kept in a cool dry place. If left in the ground the texture tends to become woody, but the storage life of untreated whole roots is not long.[clarification needed]
Nutritional information
Daikon is very low in food energy. A 3 ounce (85 g) serving contains only 18 Calories (75 kJ) and provides 34 percent of the RDA for vitamin C. Daikon also contains the active enzyme myrosinase that aids digestion, particularly of starchy foods.[citation needed]
Notes
- ^ Mish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. “Daikon.” Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. 9th ed. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1985. ISBN 0-87779-508-8, ISBN 0-87779-509-6 (indexed), and ISBN 0-87779-510-X (deluxe).
- ^ Charmaine Solomon, Encyclopedia of Asian Food, Periplus 1998.