Harvest of the Month: Turnips
The turnip seems to have made a comeback.
In the ancient world, it was a popular staple, prized especially for its spicy-flavored leaves and oil from its seeds. While the turnip often is regarded as a root vegetable, the roundish part of the plant we eat is actually a part of its stem. Once long and spindly (more like a carrot), it has been bred over time to be plumper and meatier.
Over the centuries, the turnip somehow fell from favor, becoming, as National Geographic put it, “the food of cows, pigs, sheep, the desperate, and the poor.”
More recently, though, the rooty vegetable has enjoyed a surge in popularity, becoming one of the most-ordered seeds from seed catalogues and finding its way onto plates in hipper restaurants. Now, more and more cooks are serving it as a side dish, mashed, roasted, chopped or various other ways.
To select the best turnips, you first should understand that they come in a variety of colors, but the most popular ones tend to be purple on top and white on the bottom. Choose crisp and blemish-free turnips with bright green tops. Smaller ones will taste better, as they’re less bitter.
You can store turnips in a dry, sealed container at a cool temperature, but first remove their green tops. Then you can safely hold onto them for months at a time.
Try this months recipe, Parmesan-Crusted Crushed Turnips
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Tags: harvest of the month, Turnips