The watermelon radish may be the darling of foodies, but at retail its outer appearance can be confusing for new consumers. 

Frieda's Specialty Produce CEO Karen Caplan says many years ago the company started supplying the vegetable to chefs and it started appearing in crudités platters, becoming very popular due to its vibrant internal color that could be used in a wide range of dishes.

"These last couple of years we’ve started to have bigger supplies, and the biggest challenge was how do we sell it at retail so the consumer will recognize it," she tells www.freshfruitportal.com.

Frieda's is well-known as the produce company that introduced kiwifruit to U.S. consumers, and while completely different, the watermelon radish sales face a similar challenge when it comes to educating consumers.

"It’s white with a greenish tinge. It's like a kiwifruit that’s brown on the outside and green on the inside, except it’s green on the outside and pink on the inside," she says.

"You don’t even know what it is. It looks like a turnip or something," she says, expressing how most people feel when they see the watermelon radish in the store.

To overcome this problem, Frieda's considered using elastitag rubber bands, but it just wasn't practical.

"You'd have a sea of tags at retail," she says.

"And then we experimented with these 1 pound gusseted bags, we played around with it and thought, 'this is perfect'."

She says the bags are very good for the product for several reasons, and not just because the label visually communicates the watermelon radish's internal appearance.

"First of all it’s really good for the product, because watermelon radish if they sit out at retail they get a little bit spongy if they don’t stay really cold," she says.

"Two, of course there are the labels, and three, instead of buying one radish they buy a pound."

Barring any weather events the crop is available almost year-round, with product currently coming out of Mexico. The new bags are coming out nationwide, although Caplan notes some supermarkets will need time to cover some of the administrative aspects that come with stocking new products.

In a release, Frieda's highlighted the radish could be used in many dishes, from thinly shaved onto a salad to quick-pickled for trending vegan/vegetarian grain bowls, poke (Hawaiian raw fish rice bowl), and bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwiches).

The Huffington Post food section recently featured radish recipes that include pickled and roasted radishes.

"Radishes are definitely trending, and the watermelon radish is the trendiest!" the release said.

“The watermelon radish is truly a hidden gem of the produce department—most shoppers don’t know about its beautiful color on the inside just from looking at it on the shelf,” Caplan said in the release.

"Our pouch showcases what these gorgeous radishes look like on the inside, which not only attracts the attention of shoppers, it also educates them about the product with serving suggestions on the back."

Watermelon radishes are available from Frieda’s in 12/1-lb. pouches and in 10-lb. bulk. Introduce your shoppers to their new favorite vegetable by contacting Frieda’s account managers about watermelon radishes.

Frieda's also prepared a delightful recipe which you can see in the video below:

www.freshfruitportal.com