The turnipās heyday, the Great Depression, wasnāt exactly illustrious.
āI think turnips got a bad rap because they came out of an era when that was about all people had to eat through the winter. And they got overcooked, so they werenāt palatable,ā says farmer Vicki Westerhoff of Genesis Growers in St. Anne., Illinois.
Even with those dark days long gone, Westerhoff remembers her late mother refusing to eat that particular root vegetable ever again.
Which brings us to the present. While we havenāt yet declared the turnip The Vegetable to Cook With Right Now, Westerhoff predicts that day is not far off. āIt's like kohlrabi. Nobody liked kohlrabi when I started growing it. Now I canāt grow enough of it,ā she says.
And if youāve ever tasted a tender Japanese turnip or veered from the usual (over)roasted route, you know what sheās talking about. It's time turnips get the spotlightāagain.
Turnips are in the Brassica family, which also includes cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. Theyāve got a peppery bite that mellows out with cooking, and theyāre full of vitamin C and fiber, among other good things.
They're not to be confused with rutabagas, though the mixup is understandable. Rutabagas are a cross between a turnip and a cabbage and are sometimes called yellow turnips.
But turnipsāat least the Purple Top variety you'll see most oftenāhave white skin and a purple blush on top. Rutabagas are much bigger with rough, darker purpleātinged skin.
The other most common turnip varieties are the yellow-skinned Yellow Ball and the Japanese hakurei. The latter are smallāthey look like white radishesāmore tender and sweet, and need no peeling, unlike a regular turnip.
Turnips thrive in cool weather, even during frost. āTheir Brix content changes as it gets cold and the root develops more sugar,ā says Westerhoff, referring to a value farmers and buyers use to assess vegetable quality.
Theyāre in season in the springāfor Japanese turnips, this is their main timeāand again in the fall. Westerhoff is partial to the late fall crop, when theyāre at their sweetest and being harvested for winter storage. In other words, now is a good time to buy turnips.
Feel for firmness, above all. āIf theyāre spongy or pithy, itās not going to be a good turnip,ā Westerhoff says.
Pass up any turnips with big cuts or dents. If the greens are still attached, they should look vibrant, not sad and wilted. And donāt assume that the bigger the turnip, the more bitter it isāwhile itās true that small Japanese turnips are sweet enough to eat raw, and that old turnips can be woody and tough, the bitterness level really has nothing to do with size.
āBitterness comes from the weather and water,ā says Westerhoff. The warmer it gets, the more bitter a turnip will taste.
The turnips you buy in winter have been in cold, relatively humid storage. Keep them that way by storing in a plastic bag or closed container with "a couple sprinkles of water," in the crisper drawer of your fridge, says Westerhoff. Theyāll stay good for at least two weeks.
If you bought them with their greens on (and why notāthe greens are not only edible, but tasty), cut the greens off and store separately. (But really, cook the greens as soon as you can, while they're full of flavor.)
You can peel, cut, blanch, and freeze turnips, and theyāll keep that way for 8 to 10 months. Just know that their texture will change to mushyāwhich doesn't mean they won't still be delicious.
