The leaves of this vegetable are more valuable than the root, make an excellent pickle, and it's a shame to throw them away

Radish is a vegetable commonly eaten in people's daily lives. It is not only delicious but also rich in nutritional value, whether it is white radish, carrot, green radish or red radish. In winter and spring, braising meat with white radish is even more fragrant, and red radish can even be eaten as a fruit. However, many people know that radish is delicious and nutritious, but they overlook one thing, and that is its leaves. Many people, when preparing radish, only keep the root and throw away the leaves, not realizing that its leaves are actually more valuable than the root.

In the rural areas of the past, the older generation of farmers also called radish leaves (including the leaves of white radish, carrot, red radish and green radish) "radish greens." At that time, living conditions were not as good as they are now, and anything edible was kept, either dried in the sun or pickled, and radish greens were one of them. Back then, the older generation of farmers often chopped up radish greens, sprinkled on a handful of salt, and made them into pickles. When there was no other food to eat, they would eat the radish green pickles with plain white rice. I wonder if any friends have ever eaten this? Anyway, the author used to eat it often in the past.

Don't think that because pickled radish greens were eaten in the past to solve the problem of having enough to eat, radish greens seem to have no value. Actually, that is wrong. The value of radish greens is quite high, even higher than that of the radish itself. Modern research has found that the nutritional value of radish greens is also very rich. Every 100 grams of radish greens contains 1.4 grams of dietary fiber, 118 micrograms of vitamin A, 238 milligrams of calcium and many other nutrients. In particular, the calcium content of red radish greens reaches as high as 350 milligrams per 100 grams, the highest calcium content among all vegetables, while green radish, although the lowest, still reaches 110 milligrams per 100 grams.

In addition to being rich in nutritional value, radish greens also have medicinal food effects. They have the effects of aiding digestion, regulating qi, resolving phlegm, relieving cough, clearing the lungs and soothing the throat, and dissipating blood stasis and reducing swelling. They can be used to treat many conditions such as food stagnation with qi stagnation, abdominal and epigastric fullness, acid regurgitation, hiccups, diarrhea, dysentery, sore and swollen throat, coughing with phlegm, hoarseness, breast swelling and pain in women, blocked milk flow, and external treatment of injury-related blood stasis and swelling. So do not underestimate these radish greens. If you do not understand them and throw them away, that is truly a pity.

The author also said earlier that radish greens were often used to make pickles in the past. In fact, making pickles with radish greens is also an excellent specialty in the countryside. Below, the author will also introduce to everyone how, in the countryside where the author lives, old farmers make pickles with radish greens.

Here the author uses red radish greens.

1. Wash the radish greens, then chop them up and sprinkle on fine salt (usually 2 to 4 grams is enough).

2. Take a handful and mix well with the salt, then squeeze out the water.

3. Choose one green pepper, one red pepper and some dried radish, chop them up and add them to the salted radish greens.

4. Add fine rice powder, salt, chili powder and other ingredients. After mixing, put them into a jar and pickle for about 3 days.

Once pickled, the flavor is very delicious and especially good with rice. Dear friends, have you ever eaten pickles made from radish greens? You are welcome to leave a comment and share!