A vegetable with a purple crown

Turnips are vegetables with a purple crown.  The purple colour is formed when the vegetable grows above the soil and comes into contact with sunlight.  A turnip is the shape of a squashed globe (a globe is the shape of the planet earth), with a creamy coloured skin and white inside.  They have a sweet but very slightly peppery taste and are very good for you.

There are two times of year when Turnips are at their best for eating although you can buy them throughout the year.  The first is in early summer when the vegetables are small, fresh and softer.  The second is towards the end of the year or early January when they are older, tasty, healthy and good value for money.  They can make up an important part of our winter diet that helps keep us warm in the cold weather.  Turnips are grown throughout the rest of the year to feed animals.

It is believed that turnips came from Northern Europe about 2,000BC.  They were one of the first vegetables grown and formed an important part of the human diet as there were no potatoes.

Turnips were grown in Britain in the nineteenth century for cattle food and they were not as popular with humans.  Turnips are used in lots of different ways across Europe.  For example in France they shallow fry them with duck, Italians use them in rice dishes called risottos, the Chinese roast them and the Japanese pickle them.

The turnip is part of the mustard family and is like Brussels sprouts that grow well in a cool climate.  They have lots of vitamin C and fibre with lots of other things that help the body grow and stay healthy.

Winter turnips should be firm and heavy for their size.  This means they have kept in the water and are moist inside.  They should have a smooth and undamaged surface.  Early summer turnips will sometimes have their leaves attached and these should be crisp and green.

When storing turnips make sure you remove the leaves and keep them in the fridge or a cool, dry place.  Baby turnips should be eaten within 2 or 3 days while the larger winter types will keep for a week or so in a plastic bag in the fridge.

To prepare turnips make sure you wash them first and trim off any leaves and roots.  Baby turnips can be used whole or grated as part of a salad while larger ones should be peeled and cut into slices or cubes.

If you want to bake the cubed turnips place them on a baking dish and sprinkle water over them.  Cover them and cook them at 200 degrees centigrade until a table fork will go into the chunks easily.  This takes about 30 to 45 minutes.  You can also cut them into larger chunks and roast them like potatoes with meat or chicken, or steam and boil them.  Don't cook them for too long as the taste gets stronger the longer they are cooked.

Date

1/1/2008