T-Bone Tuesday Team Presents Today's Short Story

A Green Movement: A Short History of RADISHES.

The descriptive Greek name of the genus Raphanus means “quickly appearing” and refers to the rapid germination of these plants. Raphanistrum from the same Greek root is an old name once used for this genus. The common name “radish” is derived from Latin (Radix = root).

Although the radish was a well-established crop in Hellenistic and Roman times, which leads to the assumption that it was brought into cultivation at an earlier time, Zohary and Hopf note that “there are almost no archeological records available” to help determine its earlier history and domestication. Wild forms of the radish and its relatives the mustards and turnip can be found over west Asia and Europe, suggesting that their domestication took place somewhere in that area. However Zohary and Hopf conclude, “Suggestions as to the origins of these plants are necessarily based on linguistic considerations.”

Radishes, onions and garlic were paid as ‘wages’ to the Ancient Egyptian labourers who built the Pyramids. The Greeks and Romans preferred their radishes big: up to 100lbs each, grown for winter storage and served with honey and vinegar.

-Mr. M&M