I Have My Butter Knife Ready

I find myself craving them now, those oblong French breakfast radishes that inevitably show up in early spring and early fall in my CSA box, and which I have always planted reluctantly in my garden simply because they grow fast. Yet, a week after they arrive or I pick them fresh and full of pride, a wilted bundle of radishes often hides out in the back of the refrigerator, embarrassed and disappointed in how it has been treated by me.

This past spring, however, I had a bit of a breakthrough. Sliced radishes on warm whole grain bread with a bit of sweet, homemade butter changed my opinion about the radishes completely. The butter tempered their spice and created a brand new taste sensation. And I started packing these radish sandwiches in lunchboxes and taking them with me as snacks after meetings. And suddenly, the arrival of the radishes no longer elicted guilt for the inevitable compost waste I knew they would become. The radishes had now earned some respect.

And so, now, when the crops are at least a month late here because of the drought, I wait impatiently. For the buttery soft lettuces. The handfuls of kale. And, yes, the fast-growing, too-spicy radishes. And I have my butter knife ready.