Cranberry Cured Daikon

We have been looking at the transfer of flavors. We have cured and brined fish and meat, though curing vegetables is something we have overlooked. That is not quite accurate, as we have preserved vegetables by pickling them with assorted flavors, from passion fruit to pine needle. What we have not done is pack vegetables in a seasoned medium to intensely flavor them, until now.

We have taken cranberry-miso, a condiment from our pantry, and packed peeled daikon radish in the blend, then vacuum sealed the mixture and let the radish cure for about a week. We then pulled the radishes out of the cranberry-miso and rinsed them off. The daikon had evolved. The radishes are orange-red in color, stained and flavored by the cranberry, preserved by the miso, and an interesting blend between pickled, cured, and marinated. The radishes are crisp and juicy with a clear expression of these blended flavors.

Now we can begin to ask questions about combinations and possibilities. What about curing cauliflower in grape miso? Apples cured in smoked paprika and kasu (sake lees)? Pumpkin or butternut squash cured in coffee and salted molasses? Pears cured with honey and lime pickle puree? The surface is scratched, now we need to find delicious.