Contents
Chinese radish is a cabbage plant, which is a root vegetable. This plant is also common called forehead. The Chinese (or Margilan) radish has received such an innocent name thanks to its wide distribution in China, Japan, Uzbekistan, Korea and the Far East. The most common varieties of this vegetable are raspberry ball and elephant’s fang.
The forehead has many similarities with daikon, the plants differ only in the length of the growing season. Chinese radish is fully developed over the years 1-2. In the first year, the plant can form leaves and one root vegetable weighing up to 500 grams. In the second year of life, the forehead may bloom and produce seeds, however, there are some subspecies of Chinese radish, which live only 1 a year and during this period have time to produce both fruits and seeds.
The varieties of Chinese radish affect the type of cultivated roots. It can have a different shape, from round to spindle, as well as varying color. The forehead is red, white, yellow, violet and green. The same variety of colors can be in the plant pulp. Depending on the variety, the length of the growing season of the root can be from 70 to 120 days. Chinese radish can be eaten fresh, because, compared with its European counterpart, it is not so bitter due to the lack of a large amount of radish oil. The taste of the forehead does not resemble radish, but radish.
The composition and beneficial properties of the root
Margelan radish has a lot of vitamins and minerals that can fully fill the daily need for nutrients of every human body. It even contains minerals that are practically absent in other root crops, for example, chlorine, zinc, phosphorus, sulfur, manganese, calcium, potassium, iron, and many others. At the same time, the calorie content of the product is not too high, only 21 kilocalories per 100 grams, which allows the use of such a vegetable in many diet menus.
There is a lot of fiber in the roots of the forehead, which has a beneficial effect on the motility of the gastrointestinal tract and relieves constipation. The Chinese radish is full of essential oils that have a bactericidal and anti-inflammatory effect on microorganisms located in the gastrointestinal tract, which helps to reduce pathogenic microflora and normalize excretory processes.
With low acidity of gastric juice and problems with the liver and gallbladder, the forehead can be an excellent regenerating agent, it has a choleretic effect. And the juice from the root crops of this plant will help to overcome any inflammatory processes and ARVI, it will be an excellent medicine for arthritis, radiculitis and small stones in the liver and kidneys.
Margelan radish helps increase appetite, since it provokes the secretion of gastric juice. The juice of the radish itself in combination with honey can cure any kind of cough. Pectin and fiber from Chinese radish help in removing toxins, decay products and toxins from the body. The gentle composition of the root crop allows it to be eaten even by people suffering from diseases of the cardiovascular system and liver. Well, crushed forehead is used as lotions for local anesthesia.
Contraindications to the use of root vegetables
Margilan radish should not be eaten by pregnant women, because it can increase the tone of the uterus by the influence of its own active essential oils. This often provokes termination of pregnancy, premature birth and difficulty of gestation. Also, the forehead is contraindicated for nursing mothers, because it greatly affects the taste of breast milk and is the cause of colic in babies. If you have the following diseases, you should consult a doctor about the advisability of using this product:
- gastritis;
- pancreatitis;
- an ulcer of the stomach or intestines;
- colitis;
- enteritis;
- chronic diseases of the cardiovascular system;
- severe kidney disease.
Cooking application
The taste of Chinese radish is very similar to the taste of radishes. You can use the forehead as an independent dish or add it to salads, sandwiches, snacks and okroshka. Boiled vegetable is used as a basis for the first and second hot dishes, and in pickled and salted form of the forehead is an excellent complement to dishes from various products.
The best allies of the taste of Chinese radish in salads are cucumbers, green apples and carrots. Radish can be cut coarsely or finely, into slices, straws or cubes, grated. Chinese radish salad will ideally fit into any diet menu if there are no contraindications to its use. From the following list of ingredients, you can prepare a very tasty and healthy salad with a minimum number of calories:
- half a lemon (its juice);
- a mixture of peppers;
- salt;
- bunch of parsley;
- 1 average radish;
- 1 big carrot;
- 1 medium bulb;
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
The radish and carrot are rubbed on a coarse grater, the onion is cut into thin half-rings. Preparing dressing from the juice of half a lemon, vegetable oil, a mixture of peppers and salt. All ingredients are mixed and filled with the dressing, finely chopped greens are added to the salad.
For those who do not like too spicy dishes, a mixture of peppers can be replaced with a small chopped 1 bell pepper.
The resulting salad, like all dishes based on Chinese radish, can be consumed both in summer and winter. The rich complex of vitamins and minerals in the forehead will help to feel great even for those who very much limit their nutrition, trying to lose weight. And the prevention of many infectious and viral diseases during the off-season will not be superfluous, and the Chinese radish copes with this task perfectly.