By Fazal Khaliq
MINGORA: Though radish might not be your favorite salad, yet one spot in Swat is known for fresh and tasty radishes where people swarm to eat and take it home.
Village Kanju in tehsil Kabal is a famous spot, the white radish of where is popular not only in Swat but also in the entire country.
About 20 to 25 vendors can be seen near famous Ayub Bridge on Swat River at Kanju village selling white radish from October to March every year, a big source of livelihood for them as they say.
Rafiullah Khan a resident of Kanju who has been doing the business for about 15 years said that he used to come out early morning to pull out radishes from the field and took them to the nearby stream for cleaning.
“After cleaning them in the stream I took it to my roadside cart for sale. My son, after school, also joins to assist me till late evening. We easily manage to earn Rs 500 to 800, an enough amount for our daily expenses,” he said.
The vendors said people take radish of the area to different parts of the country as gift. “Daily customers come and take large number of radishes to send it to their relatives and friends. “Some say they send to Karachi others take it to Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore. As many people from this area are working abroad, their relatives prefer to send it to them abroad,” Rafiullah Khan added.
The dealers said that the season of radish was a blessing for them as they earn enough to buy other life necessities in the season.
“We have to do daily labour from March to October in which we only can earn food for family and wait for the radish season in which we can buy new clothes and shoes for our family. We also manage to save some money for hard times,” said Umar Ali, an aged man who sell radish for the last 15 years.
“We sell over 300 to 400 radishes daily and a normal radish is sold on Rs 20 to 30,” Shahid Khan another vendor said.
A customer who was putting radishes in his car said that he was taking them for his mother as she had asked him. “Radish of Kanju are fresh and tasty which cannot be found anywhere in the country so we all like them very much and eat them as salad,” said Aziz Mohammad a resident of Ningwalai.
Two friends who were eating fresh radish with salt and spices sprinkled on it said that they came from Saidu Sharif to enjoy radish.
“Though radish is good for stomach and liver and purifies blood but we come here for its taste and eat it here along the Swat River. So it is a sort of excursion for us to refresh ourselves,” said Ibrar Khan and Amjad Ali two friends.
For its nutrition and health benefits, radish maintains top rank in vegetables as it regulates blood pressure, beats cold and cough, helps you recover from jaundice, fights constipation, keeps kidney healthy, helps in weight loss, lowers cancer risk, good for asthma patients, good for diabetics and more than all it keeps you looking younger.
