In the past, radish, wasabi (Japanese horseradish), and ginger were not merely condiments that enhance the flavor of a dish, they also functioned as a kind of agent to fight the bacteria on raw fish, tofu and other easily perishable food. That’s what the old Japanese texts claim (radish as medicine – the sources (part ii)). They say that radish removes any ‘poison’ in flour products, fish, alcohol and tofu. Even today raw radish, cut in very fine stripes, still ‘garnishes’ sashimi. Okay, in convenience stores it is sometimes replaced by plastic imitations. These sources also say that radish is good for your digestion and any problems with the nose and lungs.
This made me curious, and I wondered if the information in these sources is still known today.
Therefore, I’ve checked several practical guides:
1. a Japanese manual on naturopathy called Shizen ryōhō written by Tōjō Yuriko
2. a guide about medicinal herbs called Yakusō (Yamakei Field Books 17) written by Inami Kazuo
3. a practical dictionary of medicinal herbs called Yakusō no jitsuyō jiten (Ie no Hikari Association) written by Tanaka Kōji
This is a random selection and I don’t receive any external sponsorship for these books.
1. Let’s start with the Japanese manual on naturopathy
The author mainly uses grated radish and dried radish leaves for helping the body to regain its strength.
Grated radish cures
- Grated radish for alleviating fever and inducing sweating (antidote for fish and food poisoning):
Put three sake cups of grated radish and the same amount of grated ginger together with some soy sauce and salt (it tastes slightly weaker than miso soup) into 360ml hot water or bancha (lowest grade of green tea) and drink it. This is particularly effective for reducing fever when having a cold. Good as antidote for meat, fish and shellfish poisoning. Not suitable for weak people suffering from pleurisy or tuberculosis. The intake should also not exceed the dose of three times a day for a usually healthy person. The body would feel heavy afterwards.
- Grated radish as diuretic (not suitable for weak and very sick persons):
Mix one sake cup of grated radish juice with 180 ml hot water at the ratio of one sake cup to 180ml of hot water, briefly bring to the boil, then add some salt and drink it.
- Headache:
Put grated radish into a gauze cloth and press it on the forehead. It will take away the pain. Be aware that if too pungent, the radish may cause skin irritation.
- Hoarse voice and hangover:
Put some honey into grated radish and drink it.
- Painful sensations in the mouth or of the tongue:
Rinse the mouth often with the juice of grated radish.
- Phlegm:
A meal consisting of dried radish strips and jellyfish helps to reduce the phlegm in the body.
- Alleviating fever by using greens:
One puts plenty of radish or turnip leaves, or the leaves of Japanese mustard spinach or other greens on the back of the head und forehead, and replaces them after about an hour. The leaves absorb the heat and are even faster in alleviating the fever than an ice pillow.
I know a variant of this recipe using the outer leaves of savoy cabbage instead.
The author also has some culinary recipes for fresh and dried radish leaves in the manual (radish leaves recipes)
2. Medicinal herb guide
- As cough sirup and remedy against a sore throat:
Cut the radish into small rectangles, take one cup of it and mix with two or three table spoons of honey or syrup, put the mixture into a jar and let it stand. Then drink the extract.
This recipe is also well known in the West. You can use either the round and small, and very pungent winter radish or an onion.
- For strengthening the stomach, reducing phlegm, or relieving the cough:
per day take 10mg full-ripe radish seeds, put them into water and let it boil down for a decoction. You can also grind the seeds to fine powder and drink it as a tea/decoction.
3. Practical dictionary of medicinal herbs
The author says that the following radish recipe is good for:
- initial stage of fever when having a cold
- when feeling nausea or having a weak stomach
- prior and after childbirth
- when suffering from morning sickness
And here cames the recipe:
Grate the unpeeled root, add some soy sauce or other suitable seasoning, and drink one or two cups per day.
The author also thinks that radish helps in case of:
- bruises
- sprains
- or similar injuries
Squeeze out the liquid of the grated radish, moisten a cloth and make a cold wet compress. If the affected part of the body is swollen, add some ginger juice and make a warm wet compress.
That’s interesting. I didn’t come across any passage in these old texts that uses grated radish for bruises or sprains, and I wonder if the physicians of the past recommended other (more effective) plants for treating these kinds of injuries.
Dried radish leaves as bath additive:
When being sensitive to cold or having health problems due to air conditioning, or for recovering from overwork, shade-dried radish leaves make a good bath additive.
By the way, another good bath additive are loquat (biwa) leaves.
If I had to draw something like a conclusion, I would say that kitchen ingredients were also very much a part of early remedy making, and the healing effects of raw, simmered or dried radish are apparently not entirely forgotten.
I’m sure you know that this information here does not replace a visit to a doctor
