Bought some daikon that’s quite bitter when eating raw. So I tried these remedies after a web search:
- slice it up, salt it heavily, let it sit in a collander for >30 min to drip out bitter liquids, rinse, add to stir-fry
- simply steam it
The first approach worked, but the saltiness remains even though the salt was rinsed off. It was still decent as a salty taste happened to be compatible with the stir-fry.
The 2nd approach was a disaster (even though I peeled it as well as the bitter tastes can be concentrated in the skin). I was skeptical when I read an article claiming that simply steaming the daikon removes the bitterness. I tested the claim by steaming for like 30—40 min. It was not instantly bitter but as I chewed it it became increasingly excessively bitter. I’m sure it would have ruined the miso soup I was originally planning to put it in.
I got a 2nd opinion. Someone else tasted the same steamed daikon as I did and said it did not taste very bitter. Of course there is a dilemma here: either the other person does not perceive the strong level of bitter taste (due to human genetic differences), or they are simply not bothered by it. We could not work out how to test which case it was.
2 theories for why people /think/ steaming works
Daikon can be bitter for a number of reasons: genetics of the veg, harvesting of it (particularly the timing), and storage (to a lesser extent).
① I wonder if people who claim cooking alone is sufficient are perhaps buying daikon that is not notably bitter to begin with.
② The human genetic factor: some people do not taste some bitter compounds.
In any case, I would like to know if anyone has other techniques to preparing bitter varieties daikon.
To lessen bitterness, you can add sweet. I typically end up pickling bitter veg if I dont want the full bitterness. A bit of vinegar, salt, and sugar does a lot to change a veg. But this is diving into the science behind cooking; a wonderous, deep rabbit hole if you want to explore it.
FYI, if the saltiness remained after a salt bath, you likely used too much salt or waited too long. The salt bath is to create an imbalance such that water is pulled from the veg to balance out the salt level between the bath and the veg. It will try to equalize, so too much salt and/or time then salts the veg (which may be desired for some dishes).