Raddish, Or Horse-Raddish

Raphanus sativus

HRB-0240Entry “RADDISH, OR HORSE-RADDISH” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition

Open in the Concordance

Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.

Substance of concernEFSA: Alkaloids, Glucosinolates, brassinosteroidsEFSA’s list of substances, not a danger rating. Checked 26 October 2026.

Historical correspondence. Ruled by Mars, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.

Culpeper’s claims about it: 8, under 8 headings, 2 where he says it harms or causes

  1. Blood (Culpeper says it harms)CLM-000185
    Garden Raddishes are in wantonness by the gentry eaten as a sallad, but they breed but scurvy humours in the stomach, and corrupt the blood, and then send for a physician as fast as you can;
    QUO-000161Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  2. GravelCLM-000824
    yet for such as are troubled with the gravel, stone, or stoppage of urine, they are good physic, if the body be strong that takes them;
    QUO-000639Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  3. LiverCLM-001216
    The root bruised and laid to the place grieved with the sciatica, joint-ache, or the hard swellings of the liver and spleen, doth wonderfully help them all.
    QUO-000858Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  4. ScurvyCLM-001487
    The juice of Horse-raddish given to drink, is held to be very effectual for the scurvy.
    QUO-001011Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  5. Stomach (Culpeper says it harms)CLM-001638
    Garden Raddishes are in wantonness by the gentry eaten as a sallad, but they breed but scurvy humours in the stomach, and corrupt the blood, and then send for a physician as fast as you can;
    QUO-000161Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  6. StoneCLM-001735
    yet for such as are troubled with the gravel, stone, or stoppage of urine, they are good physic, if the body be strong that takes them;
    QUO-000639Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  7. SwellingsCLM-001828
    The root bruised and laid to the place grieved with the sciatica, joint-ache, or the hard swellings of the liver and spleen, doth wonderfully help them all.
    QUO-000858Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance
  8. WormsCLM-002127
    It kills the worms in children, being drank, and also laid upon the belly.
    QUO-001335Papers and the EMA’s verdict, in the Concordance

Source

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850

Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.