Radis au beurre are often seen as breakfast radishes.  These radishes which  appear in springtime, have a lovely candy cane color palette and, if you clean them well, make for a striking presentation when you put them out in a big white bowl. Leave the leaves on as a handy holding point.

Serve them simply, as the French do, with softened butter and coarse French sea salt.  These are longer, milder radishes, compared to the hotter, round varieties.  This makes a stylish hors d’oeuvre or canapes with aperitifs.

The butter acts as a fatty foil to the bracing heat of the raw radish, and the salt adds electricity.

  • 20 long radishes
  • ramekins of butter, preferably beurre demi-sel de Bretagne
  • Fleur de sel French sea salt

I bought these seeds from Amazon:  French Breakfast Radish Seeds – Raphanus Sativus – 3 Grams – Approx 300 Gardening Seeds – Vegetable Garden Seed


The first year I planted radishes, I sowed nearly fifty seeds, and to my delight—and surprise—every one of them sprouted and matured beautifully. But when I pulled the first radish from the ground and took a bite, I was hit with an eye-watering burst of heat, far sharper and more horseradish-like than the mild crunch of the red radishes from the grocery store.

At the time, I had no idea that warm soil temperatures or uneven watering could make radishes dramatically spicier. I had planted mine a little too late in the season. That experience taught me an important lesson about growing your own food: like wild game, homegrown vegetables don’t always resemble their store-bought versions. Their flavor and texture can change significantly depending on how they’re raised.

Rather than throw those fiery radishes away, I discovered several great ways to use them:

Pickle: Pickling mellows their sharpness and heat. I also enjoy soaking diced radishes in lime juice and using them in place of jalapeños in pico de gallo.
Cook: Cooking softens their bite. Radishes are especially delicious pan-fried in clarified butter or duck fat, then finished with woody herbs like rosemary or thyme and a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
Grate: If your radishes are hot enough to rival horseradish, treat them like it. Finely grate them and mix the bright pink pulp into mayonnaise or sour cream for a bold sandwich spread or a zesty topping for steak.