You grab a couple of ice cubes, water and some radishes and you are suddenly the king of the healthy party snacks.
Everybody is worshipping you because you just took those 5 minutes extra to pimp that vegetarian and healthy veggie snack. Try it out! Impress
How it started...
When I am in the supermarket and I see a bunch of radishes, I often think:'So healthy, but they will probably stay in the fridge...'. It doesn't have anything to do with the amount of work it takes, there is just a bunch of leaves attached to it and they are covered with soil, so that you won't be able to quickly grab one as a snack.
And by the way, it is not extremely appetising for your guest to look at, such a red thing with white spots where the leaves were attached to it. Well, for that I have got the solution now, a way to make it a little bit more fun.
First I discovered a way to eat radishes before they were going off. Directly after I had bought them and even before they went into the fridge, I washed them and cut the stems of. I'd put them in a container with some salt and pepper and they were ready to nibble on. But they lacked sex appeal, my fridge had to offer much more attractive options which made my mouth water. But well, at least I ate them Eventually
I thought by myself, there must be a better way...
How I discovered that radishes open up in ice water.
Radishes open up where they are carved when you put them in ice water.
By coincidence I found out how I could make this veggie snack more attractive for my vegan friends! Last time I had carved my radishes and had put them in a container with some herbs to give them some more flavour. In a rush I had put them in the freezer in stead of in the fridge.
When I wanted to take some ice cubes out of the freezer a couple of hours later, I saw the container and I had giggled a bit as for how stupid I can be sometimes.
I opened the container to check if the radishes weren't frozen yet, but the water content of the veggies was fortunately not frozen yet.
After I had a second look, I realised something special about them. Where I had carved them I saw way more white flesh than at other places!
And from one thing came another, I thought by myself (this time I felt a bit less stupid) and suddenly thought about radish flowers! Thé solution to make sure that radishes gain their sex appeal they always lacked and don't have to be served in an uncharming way on those birthday parties where everyone is on a diet.
No, this time it was going to be different, people would be amazed, talk about it! I have tried it with a new bunch of radish to see if it is really that easy to make beautiful flowers of radishes. Read below my tricks to make the radish flowers.
Start right here and now to use the trick so that your radishes will become irresistable too:
Radish flowers look beautiful as garnish on a plate or just in a bowl on the table to dress up a party.
- Clean the radishes with water and cut of the ends
- Grab a knife at the very edge of the blade and carf the radishes from top to bottom in the shape of little moons or roof tops. Keep the cuts as close to the surface as possible.
You can make any shape you want, as long as you make sure that the part where you are cutting stays attached to the radish. For flowers I imbricate the 'petals'. - Put the carved radishes in a container with floating ice cubes in it.
- Take out the radishes as soon as they have opened up enough (usually after a minute or so).
- If you want you can now carefully bend the 'petals' outwards with the back of a knife. You can also cut off the red part on the top of the radishes now (the centre of the flower) if you find that more attractive.
- And if you want to make sure they stay up right when you present them, this is the time to cut the tiniest bit off of the bottom of the radishes.
✩ And now you have created your own gorgeous radish flowers ✩
I couldn't stop myself... Use your creativity!
I couldn't behave myself and started giving them little faces. Sometimes I feel like a kid again :-)
Ciao! Xavy
Text and photos by Xavy Aap.