You may be used to seeing red radishes in the grocery store, but have you ever seen a black radish? In fact, there are many different kinds of radishes and you’ll find the tastiest, heirloom varieties at your local farmer’s market. While they each possess different nutrients, black radishes have many health benefits and can be found in supplement form.
What is Black Radish?
Black radish is a type of winter radish that has rough black skin and hot white flesh. It tends to be larger and hotter that your average spring, red radish.
Black radishes have been planted in Europe since Medieval times because they are hardy vegetables that grow in cool seasons and can be stored for use in the winter. You can store them in moist soil in a box where they won’t freeze, however the more modern way to store them is in a perforated bag in the refrigerator after they are washed and dried well. Look for black radishes in your winter or spring CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box from your local farmer.
Health Benefits of Black Radish Supplements
Black radish is very detoxifying to the liver and improves the health of the gallbladder. It is used as a cleansing food and is recommended to eat during seasonal detoxification programs. It also improves digestion because it stimulates the gallbladder and reduces inflammation in the mouth and throat. Historically, black radish was used to fight infections, especially respiratory infections. In Asia, black radish juice is used to treat coughs, colds and bronchitis.
How Does It Help Health?
The world we live in has become increasingly more toxic and our liver has to work hard to protect our body from the harmful effects of chemicals in our environment. Regularly detoxifying your liver is the key to optimum health and using vegetables like black radish is a great strategy. Black radish works to stimulate bile production in the liver and bile release by the gallbladder. Increasing bile production is a natural way to detoxify the liver and to keep it from becoming sluggish. This is particularly important for the detoxification of fat soluble toxins, making black radish a great addition to weight loss programs that tend to release fat soluble toxins into the bloodstream.
Black radish also has antimicrobial properties and works to kill bacteria, viruses and fungus. It has been shown to kill E.coli in research studies and is very effective for respiratory infections because of its antimicrobial action.
How To Use Black Radish Supplements
You can use black radish to cook with or you can eat it raw. It tastes great roasted and some people mash it after cooking it to make a zesty sauce for meats. You can add it to salads like you would use red radishes, but be prepared for more zing in your salad. Juicing black radish is another way to use it and is the best way to use it if your digestion is compromised. It tastes great mixed with celery, cucumber and tomato if you want to try making detoxifying, antimicrobial juice. However, if you do not like the potent taste of black radish, you can find the dried herb in capsule form. Often, you will find black radish added to liver detoxification supplement formulas, which makes it easy to get every thing your liver needs to work optimally.
