Michigan Officials Get To Root Of Odor: Rotting Radishes

radish
radish

From the Associated Press — A mid-Michigan community has solved an olfactory mystery that could be dubbed “The Case of the Rancid Radishes.” Residents called officials in Delta Township last month, concerned about a smell they thought might be natural gas or sewer leaks. The Lansing State Journal reports township Manager Brian Reed and his staff got to the, well, root of the problem: rotting radishes. It was the unseemly smell of decomposing daikon radishes, a Japanese root vegetable. They had been planted in fields in the township and surrounding areas as a cover crop after a wet spring. The soil effort appears to be successful, albeit odorous. Consistently colder weather should nip the stench in the bud.