Radish is one of the nutritious root vegetables featured in both salads as well as in main recipes. This widely used root vegetable belongs to the family of Brassica. In China, it along with cabbage and soybean curd (tofu), is believed as healthy food. A popular Chinese proverb goes like this, "Eating pungent radish and drinking hot tea, let the starved doctors beg on their knees."

They are thought to be originated from the mainland China centuries ago but now cultivated and consumed throughout the world. Botanically the veggie is named as Raphanus sativus.

Radishes come in different forms varying in size, color and duration of required cultivation time. They can be broadly categorized into four main types-summers, fall, winter, and spring while growers classify them by shapes, colors, and sizes, such as black or white colored, with round or elongated roots. Their biting pungent flavor comes from "isothiocyanate" compound in them, which ranges from mild in case of white-icicles to be very hot in red globe and other pigmented radishes. The top greens are also eaten as leafy-vegetables in some parts of the world.