Madras Sweet Pod

This variety is eaten for its crisp, juicy, slightly pungent seed pods. The flavor is very much like radish roots. Pick the pods when they are green and tender (under about 2 inches long), before they become fibrous. Excellent in salads or right off the plants. Plants bolt very quickly and most do not form a bulb. The time to bolting is somewhat asynchronous between plants. Plants with delayed bolting tend to form more of a bulb. Leaves are long and green. Flowers are a pretty pink and prolific. Plants get quite large and tall, but will grow just fine crowded together. Acquired by SSE from Shane Murphy through the 2001 SSE Yearbook Exchange. CA MU S acquired seeds from Bountiful Gardens in 1995. CV Bou has offered this variety consistently since 1995, and indicated that it is also known as “Munchen Bier” and predates 1885. The Madras radish is a known historical cultivar that originated in Java, but was grown in India for some time before being introduced to the US in the middle of the 19th century. However, horticulturalists writing in the 1860s described it as having 8-12” pods, which is nearly 4 times the length described by Bountiful Gardens. It is unknown if this contemporary variety is representative of the known historical “Madras” radish. “Munchen Bier” was sold by Vaughn’s Seed Store in 1894, though it is unknown if this accession can be traced back to that historic variety either. SSE Accession # 118843