Turnip

A fleshy yellow or white root vegetable tinged with purple near the leaf base.  A member of the mustard family, turnip has been around for a long time - at least since 10,000BC.  First grown in the Near East and in South-East Asia, turnip was originally cultivated for use as a medicine.  The Greeks and Romans subjected the turnip to long slow cooking then pounded it together with honey, vinegar, grapes, and oil. It was also a popular vegetable in Britain and France, especially for the soups and the stews in the northern and coastal regions.  During the 15th century in Flanders in the court of King Henry VIII, turnip was roasted in the ashes of a fire and its green stem leaves were added to salads or served as a side vegetable.

In 1730, Charles “Turnip” Townshend, a British politician, imported Dutch-grown turnips to UK.

He wanted to see if his livestock could survive in good health throughout the winter on a diet of turnips.  People still feed turnips to their animals, but they eat them as well.

Choosing and cooking

Turnips should be heavy and firm. Look for the vegetable with fresh green leaves (if they are still attached) or for the smooth one free of blemishes or cracks.

Baby turnips could be only scrubbed while fully grown, winter varieties of turnips need to be peeled.

Baby turnips have a mild taste, grown ones can taste rather strong.  If only the mature turnips are available, blanche cut vegetables to avoid the earthy bitter taste.

The leaves of the spring variety of turnip could be cooked: boiled or steamed and they resemble mustard greens in flavour.  Smaller leaves are preferred; however, any bitter taste of larger leaves can be reduced by pouring off the water from initial boiling and replacing it with fresh water.

Storing

To store turnip, trim away the green leaves and store in the vegetable crisper of the refrigerator. It should keep this way for several weeks.

Turnips are high only in Vitamin C and fibre and contain some niacin and potassium.
On the other hand, turnip greens are a good source of Vitamin A, folate, Vitamin C, Vitamin K and calcium. Turnip greens are high in lutein.

Fun facts

• A surprising vegetable low in energy with just 55 calories per one cup of raw turnip
• The turnips of certain parts of France have been famous for centuries.  Berlin turnips were praised by Goethe.
• Turnips can be eaten row due to its distinctive flavour.
• One of the Russian folk-tales is about a turnip.

Text: Anya sokolovskaya
Photography: Eric Gloutnay