I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to be writing this blog post. No, it’s not that I’m that excited about Columbus Day. I’m excited because I’ve been waiting for 2 MONTHS to write a post about Watermelon Radishes.

Aren’t they beautiful? They are perfect specimens! (Well, they’re a little bit small, but I pulled them to use for samples in a class I was teaching last Friday.) It is rather difficult to tell the size of these radishes without something to compare to, but the larger one is about the same size as a tennis ball. They will normally get to baseball to softball size.

Why are they called Watermelon Radishes you might ask? Good question.

There. Does that answer your question? Good. I thought it might. The pink interior is sweet and crunchy, while the peel has a strong spicy flavor to it like you may normally associate with radishes.

Watermelon radishes are Fall Radishes, not the commonly grown spring radishes. They are called Fall Radishes because they grow best in the fall when the days are getting shorter and cooler. Here in Kansas, plant them in early to mid-August.

Watermelon radishes are a type of Daikon radish, and other daikons are also best planted in the fall here.  If you want to try watermelon radishes, you’ll have to find seed from a catalog/online catalog. They are called watermelon radishes, red meat radishes, and rarely Matangahong radishes. (The last is, I think, technically a different radish, but they are pretty similar at any rate!)

Like other daikon radishes, these can be eaten both cooked and raw. I’ll probably have another post about that in a few weeks.