Turnips are inexpensive, high in vitamins/esp C and sulfur.A blood/lymph
cleaner/stops bleeding/ helps arthritis; get rid of excess uric acid,
kidney stones, overweight, gout. They are also cheaper than woodchips so
you can afford them during the Big Recession that's here & staying. Small tricks exist
to make them taste delicious, so follow the cues carefully: BUY SMALL ones, cook
and eat immediately, no fridging leftovers, boil with a potato to take away the
bitterness and cover with rich cream, butter, bacon or cheese
Once you're on that train to Turnipville, you will NEVER LOOK BACK!
You will happily join the impoverished villages
of the old world in using the cheapest, easiest to grow and store,
low maintenance belly stuffer that exists. Thank GAWD the thing gives
health
cuz ....it'd be a miserable wind that blew NO GOOD if it didn't!
HOW TO CATCH A TURNIP.
So seed in earliest spring (or in September in
zones 9 and 10,) leave it alone
until they get big and round under the ground.
If you plant in autumn, the weather
will sweeten them. First freeze, plants emit
SUGAR to survive, carrots do it too.
They are delicious after that first freeze.
How To Cook A Turnip
You see that violet and white thing in the market and can't figure what
it is
and you pass it by. But if you cook one chopped up in water, You will
love it. Butter it, add a teaspoon of honey to the dish, some flavored
salt
and you will prefer this to the high carb POTATO.
If you grow your own, let the first freeze catch them as they get much
sweeter. Ditto carrots and other root vegies like Rutabega. Swedes
they
called them.
You can bake them in the oven awash with olive oil, salt, pepper and other condiments, herbs.. 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Or you can simmer then bake.
I googled around and found Internet FOOD writers tellig us the exact
things to put on top of your ROOT VEGIES: parmesan cheese, cheddar grated
or Gruyere cheese melted and old standbys butter, sour cream.
Basically you simmer a root vegie til ender, slice and cover with butter/
cream/ cheese and dot with crisp bacon pieces.. You can bake them so topping
caramalize a little. Germans love to mix apples and cider with them.
French do mushrooms with them. Russians do beets and turnips, never
tire of either.
Turnip Helpful Hints
* Although available year-round, turnips are BEST during their POST
FREEZE season, October -March.
Bag them up and your Raw turnips will last up to 2 weeks in your
refrigerator crisper. Rumor has it all bitterness will be removed by cooking
some pieces of potato in the water with the first simmer of turnip. You
won't 'sell' the leftovers next day so only cook what folks will eat. Your
garden's harvst is huge? Slice then Blanch before freezing in baggies.
Google "HOW TO BLANCH VEGIES" We can eat the boiled turnip greens, very
good for you, simmer your ham in with it. Turnip greens have a flavor all
their own. Boil with ham hocks, you'll love them too. Course you could
boil my sister's dog with HAM HOCK and I'd eat it.
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