The black radish is the fierce, dusky winter keeper of the radish family — a round or tapered root sheathed in matte coal-black or dark-brown skin over dense, snow-white, bone-dry flesh that delivers the hottest, most sustained pepper of any common radish. The same crucifer mustard-oil chemistry that arms horseradish and the little red globe runs through it at full strength, so it is rarely eaten plain: it is peeled, grated or thinly sliced and drawn with salt to soften its ferocity, dressed with oil, or preserved, and it anchors old Central and Eastern European, Jewish and French winter cooking as a keeping vegetable for the cold months.