Is Mooli the new 'boutique' vegetable for 2008?
 

According to Parripak Foods, one of the leading fresh vegetable preparation specialists in the country, the next big thing in the UK for vegetables could be the oddly named, and even more oddly shaped Mooli.

The Mooli, which is a member of the radish family, grows to a massive 3 feet in length and has a mild peppery taste.  However, because of its size, the Mooli isn’t often available on the high street supermarkets shelves, although it can be found in ethnic food stores.

The Mooli has long been a favourite ingredient in a variety of ethnic dishes and is often used in East Asian Cooking, Chinese Dim Sum and Punjabi cuisine.  Because it doesn’t need cooking, Mooli is also used in coleslaw and as a garnish in salads.  In Japan, where it is known as Daikon, the vegetable is an integral part of their national cuisine.

Parripak’s marketing manager, Dominic Pleasance, explained why he believed the Mooli was the ‘one to watch’. “Because it is five times the size of a carrot there are many different processing applications for the raw materials.  We are now able to offer a variety of cuts including julienne, batons, slices and dices and this has led to a marked increase in requests for supply in the UK from recipe dish companies and ethnic food manufacturers.”

Parripak says that Mooli has never been freshly processed on a large scale before in the UK and they are currently buying the product in bulk from Italy, where it is grown in volume for the continental market, and in particular Germany. Despite its growing popularity, the volume coming into the UK for processing is still at a relatively modest scale.

Of course, if Jamie Oliver or Delia Smith takes a shine to it, that could all change overnight!