The exotic turnip
The turnip (brassica rapa) is a very durable ingredient, but one that isn’t always popular as human food. It comes in and goes out of fashion as food for humans. Sometimes turnips are consigned to the pile of vegetables use to feed cows, at others they are a gourmet’s delight.
Don’t rely on turnip appearing in a cuisine as a treasured ingredient, even if it’s grown in great quantities at a particular time and place. Also don’t rely on it being absent - turnip is a surprisingly unreliable vegetable given its degree of stodge. It was on Charlemagne’s preferred list of plants, so it’s not always gone unrecognised either. It’s a very unpredictable plant and I suspect there’s a great deal of interesting history behind its amicable dirt-covered exterior.
Young turnip can be a delight in salad, while older ones and turnips of the tougher varieties definitely need stewing or to go into soups. The leaf is a very refreshing addition to salads.




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