Hickory nuts sound like a great choice, but we shouldn't forget about acorn oil either! The tannins in acorns are only water soluble, not fat soluble, so the pressed oil is not bitter at all even with no leaching. I've heard the red oak species produce the best tasting oils. Making your own cooking oils at home with a Piteba press (or a cheap knockoff) really shows you how much we take that stuff for granted... I use much less of it now, knowing how much raw material goes into making just a tiny bit

I'm with you. Old daikon tastes bitter to me. I don't mind the flavor, but it's definitely a bitter taste to my palate.

That's definitely a possibility! The other possibility like you said is that they just don't sell especially bitter daikons in some places (like where I live/shop) at all, which would also explain why some people claim that steaming works. Because their only available daikons aren't super bitter.

I had another idea though! What if you grated it like with daikon oroshi, but then mixed it with a fat of some kind? That should mask and/or complement the bitterness, right?

I definitely buy explanation number 1, since I’ve never had a particularly bitter daikon before.

If you have never experienced sharply bitter daikon, then I would think you might be among those with genetics that do not detect the bitter compounds of some chemicals (which I describe here). I have had daikon that tastes fine raw. Yet I recently got one that is quite bitter. Both were bought in different parts of the world.

Anyway, I appreciate the tip about the torchietto. I will keep my eye out for one at flee markets. I’ve previously seen one at a flee market but at the time I did not know what I was looking at.

Back when I was young enough to be in school, the teacher handed out bits of paper with a chemical on it for students to taste. For some students it was sharply bitter and for others the same chemical was clearly not bitter, almost tasteless, IIRC. The teacher explained that the variation was due to a genetic difference in people.. either they have a gene that made that chemical taste bitter, or not. It was very long ago and I have no idea what chemical it was, but now I wonder if daikon’s bitter taste (when present) might be similar in this way to whatever the teacher gave students to taste.

When searching the web on daikon prep, “bitter” is often the term we see. It’s not at all like mustard or a conventional red raddish, for me. Unlike daikon, I have never encountered a typical red raddish (such as that used in salads) that was bitter.

Yeah, I agree with you. Never in my life have I ate a daikon and thought it was bitter. The OP should go eat a bitter melon then eat a daikon for some relief.

But daikon can have that spiced flavor. If OP doesn’t like the “standard” salad radish (small, red/purple, usually sliced thin) because it’s a bit spicy/mustard-y, then they probably won’t like any radish. I find daikon more mild than other radish types.

Is bitter the right flavor descriptor? I've also never had a bitter daikon, but it does have a destinctive radish/mustard flavor that can be strong and persistent (but it's a flavor that I like).

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).

I definitely buy explanation number 1, since I've never had a particularly bitter daikon before. Certainly not bitter enough to try and do anything about. So, if a only-slightly-bitter daikon was still too bitter for somebody, maybe steaming would work for them.

As for what to do about it, perhaps it could be removed with a torchietto the way Italians do with eggplants? Using a press instead of just dripping might allow you to use less salt in the first place, or perhaps it might expunge the salt along with the bitterness.

That's just gonna make you more hungry and your food will still be cold.

impressive

3 min x 30% = 90 s

60 s x 3 = 180

180 / 90 = 2

1 / 30% ~= 3

3 - 2 = 1

Math checks out, thanks!

It means microwave it on 70% power for 3 minutes.

usually the packaging says something like it depends on how powerful your microwave is. Most of the time its fine if you just hit one which will do high for one minute.

This is the correct answer.

But remember there is time dilation depending on how high you are. (AKA green shift)

the highest setting

This one. It means microwave it for a minute on the highest setting your microwave has.

I gotta get high for 1 minute?

They mean high for 1 minute. Then you check if it's good for you.

What is the issue, exactly? Too much smoky taste and too little heat?

In case it's useful, when I accidentally add too much of a sharp ingredient, I can often get away with adding water and potato flour to mellow things out and produce a creamier taste.

I'm not sure, but I love smoked paprika. what are you cooking? I'm curious about this in general

Hey @window@autonomous.zone check out this tofu

Ground flaxseed is good with oatmeal. I need to get back into that.

I guess some people are? Seems fairly inoffensive to me though

Curious, for what reasons? Are people offended by tofu?

Thanks!