How To Clean Radishes To Keep Them Fresh In Your Fridge

Crisp and crunchy, with a peppery bite, radishes are delicious raw and on their own, and also when added to salads or as a taco topping, roasted, sauteed, grilled, pickled, sliced thin as the centerpiece of a pretty yet punchy radish toast, or even muddled into a cocktail or used as a pretty garnish. One of the best ways to store radishes until you're ready to use them is in the fridge. Don't just toss them into the crisper drawer as-is. 

With so many uses and varieties — including the common red globe, French breakfast, watermelon, daikon, and white icicles, among others — you may just end up picking up a big bunch (or several bunches) of these cruciferous superfoods from the farmers market or grocery store. To maximize their shelf life, take a few moments to wash them properly: Rinse the bunch of radishes under cold water; scrub off the dirt from the radishes and greens with your hands or a vegetable brush; cut off the greens (but don't throw them out); wrap the radishes in a damp paper towel; then place them in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge.

Properly stored in the crisper drawer of the fridge, radishes should last around a week or so. To extend their life to around two weeks, you can submerge the cleaned radishes in a tightly sealed jar of cold water and store the jar in the fridge. If you have a root cellar, you can also store the radishes in dirt for up to three months. For even longer storage, you can freeze radishes for six months up to a year, though note that you will want to blanch them first and that their flavor and texture will be affected by being stored in the freezer.

You can also store your radish greens instead of throwing them away. They can be used in a salad, sauteed in a stir fry, or even blended into a pesto. They should be washed at the same time as the radish itself. If you don't plan to use them right away, you can also wrap them in a damp paper towel inside a plastic bag and store them in the crisper drawer of the fridge for up to three days.