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I wanted to try something new so I had the idea of putting radish in with my tuna salad. I really like the spicy punch of radishes so I was excited to taste the end product.

I got a bunch and chopped them all up, then I added some miracle whip, Philadelphia cream cheese, a chopped up pickle, a little mustard, and a touch of the maggi liquid seasoning (oh and I used a little bit of pickle juice). I thought I had too many radishes and it would over power the dish, but it turned out that it didn't really taste like radish at all. I don't understand what caused the radish taste to be completely absent.

Is there something among my ingredients that would react with the radishes to make them lose their bite?

When preparing a radish dish, should you be careful about including acids or bases?

If I were to make it again, how can I keep the radish strong?

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    I can't find enough information right off the bat to answer the question, but his line from Wiki might help you or another user towards the right path: "The raw flesh has a crisp texture and a pungent, peppery flavor, caused by glucosinolates and the enzyme myrosinase which combine when chewed to form allyl isothiocyanates, also present in mustard, horseradish, and wasabi."
    – Jolenealaska ♦
    Jun 29, 2014 at 7:00

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I don't think anything reacted, just that you smothered them in other stuff.

Some of your additional ingredients (the cream cheese and the miracle whip) will soak up any taste present and dilute it. If you just made cream cheese with radishes, it will still taste a bit like a radish, but much weaker.

But you didn't just dilute it, you combined it with other, very strong tasting food. Mustard, pickle and liquid "seasoning" are all little taste "bombs" which will easily overpower lots of other stuff (and tuna isn't so weak either). Especially the mustard has a taste and aroma which is very similar to radish, but much stronger - it will probably mask the radish. The actual radish taste (beyond the hotness) is very delicate and easily covered up. The hotness itself is the same as mustard hotness, only weaker, so it disappears into the mustard taste.

With this mix of concentrated tastes and dilutants, it's no wonder if your radish taste just went under.

If you want your salad to taste of radishes, you should remove most of the stronger seasonings. Or just replace the miracle whip with radish paste.

I doubt that adding an acid or a base will have much effect, or that you'll be adding any bases at all. Basic food doesn't taste too good, especially in combination with fat.

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  • I am not familiar with the concept that tastes can be overpowered by others. Could you suggest to me how I might alter the recipe so that I can get the radish and tuna taste.
    – Klik
    Jun 29, 2014 at 18:14
  • @Klik I suggest skipping ingredients like cream cheese and miracle whip.
    – Max
    Apr 26, 2018 at 13:26

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