Turnip Time!

23 posts / 0 new

Tue, 2011-09-13 12:36

6079_Smith_W

Turnip Time!

Don't know if the last gardening thread has expired, but this is gardening time. I've been busy canning, grating and drying, and generally getting ready for the shift from summer crops to fall ones.

I have my own garden. There is a community one nearby, but for some reason they don't allow brassicas, which doesn't work for me, because that is what my garden tends to grow best.

It must be the first warning of frost tonight that has me thinking of fall vegetables, in particular turnips. Of course if you only get yours from the store you only know the bitter kind, and aren't familiar with how sweet and tasty they can be when they first come out of the ground - especially after a good frost.

Here's a great recipe - heaven and earth. The version I learned also had parsley on top of the root vegetables, and under the applesauce (that would be the lawn in between the heaven (apples) and the earth (turnips and potatoes). You can also add salt, pepper, cinnamon, and allspice.

Of course you can easily substitute carrots in with your potatoes, or just have potatoes if you have a tender palate and aren't used to the more robust flavour of turnips.

http://traceymillerwellness.com/wellness/heaven-and-earth-mashed-turnips...

Tue, 2011-09-13 12:45

Boom Boom

I combine potatoes with a rutabaga here for mash. Rutabaga adds flavour to the blandness of potatoes.

Tue, 2011-09-13 12:52

6079_Smith_W

@ Boom Boom

I think we're talking about the same thing - the big yellow ones, as opposed to the small, round white ones with the red tops - I have never tried growing those.

Not only do they add flavour, they have all kinds of nutrients and antioxidants, and they are just generally good for you.

In summer I tend to eat more kohlrabi, which is a great summertime relative of the turnip. Next to gai lan it is probably my favourite vegetable in that family.

Tue, 2011-09-13 12:59

Boom Boom

Yes, the rutabaga are the small white ones. I just like them in mash potatoes - no other way. I used to grow them here, but the weeds have killed off my garden.

Tue, 2011-09-13 18:43

Catchfire

I've transplanted my brussel sprouts, winter cabbage, broccoli and kale, and sown some spinach and chard. It turns out I plant a lot of broccoli--purple sprouting only, please. No turnips, sadly, but I'm the only one hereabouts who eats 'em. Should have potatoes for the whole winter, though!

Also, my raspberries are just now coming through in a glut. Delicious! I've already made jam from some market berries, though--I may make more, or I may freeze them--or I may eat them all by hand!

Tue, 2011-09-13 19:09

Boom Boom

CF, I'm jealous!

Tue, 2011-09-13 21:32

Tommy_Paine

My mother used to mash and mix turnip and carrot together. I never really thought the sweetness of carrots balanced out the bitter of the turnip. I am not a turnip guy, although I think I will try to get my hands on a fresh one to see the difference from the store bought. Thanks for the tip, Smith.

Tue, 2011-09-13 22:00

Boom Boom

I don't like turnip - especially reheated - but rutabaga are okay when combined with potatoes in a mash.

Tue, 2011-09-13 23:01

6079_Smith_W

Funny... I always thought the turnips were the big yellow ones, and rutabagas the small white ones, but apparently it is the other way around. In any case, Tommy_Paine it is worth it. When they (the big yellow ones) are fresh from the garden it is hard to tell the difference between them and potatoes.

THough I was just reading that there is a gene that some people have which doubles their sensitivity to the bitter taste.

Tue, 2011-09-13 23:07

#10

Boom Boom

No - rutabagas are the small ones!!! Personally, I would never mix turnip in a potato mash. But a rutabaga - certainly.

Tue, 2011-09-13 23:36

#11

6079_Smith_W

@ Boom Boom

I know.... That's what I thought!

Wikipedia says otherwise though. That said, I have no intention of calling turnips anything else.

Now interesting that we should be talking about this. I know turnips have a reputation as simple fare, and a food of the rural poor. But strangely enough I was watering my garden tonight (to keep off the impending frost) and found probably the only vegetable with an even more rustic reputation - collards. For some reason a collard seed got in with my turnips this year, and I didn't notice until today.

(edit)

Actually come to think of it parsnips probably have more of a reputation. I can't stand them myself.

Now the one problem I know of with brassicas is that you apparently can't can or freeze them, I have managed to dry kale and brocolli greens, but frozen kohlrabi is just terrible. THe only effective way of preserving I know of is fermenting - sauerkraut.

I haven't tried making kimchi yet, but I can imagine it would work great with turnips:

http://www.earthydelightsblog.com/earthyblog/?p=1702

(and see there Boom Boom - the pic is of rutabagas. I am as surprised as you. Maybe it's a Canadianism.)

Wed, 2011-09-14 12:43

#12

Boom Boom

Yeah, that photo threw me off a bit. Obviously I am not an expert!

Veseys Canada has this: Turnip and Rutabaga - they all look the same!

Wed, 2011-09-14 22:13

#13

6079_Smith_W

Hard frost last night.... fortunately nothing got smoked that I wasn't intending to let go.

Here's another great dish - made with daikon, actually, but apparently you can subsitute turnip, taro, or other things:

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesenewyear/r/turnipcake.htm

Wed, 2011-09-14 22:24

#14

Catchfire

No brassicas at your community garden? That's pretty much all I grow.

And why would you need to freeze brassicas? They grow forever...at least here on the best coast ;)

Wed, 2011-09-14 23:02

#15

6079_Smith_W

That is the main thing I grow too, and the late season stuff (kale, sprouts, leeks) are good until well after the first snow, and roots are good as long as the ground is unfrozen. But most of them are not perennial in this part of the world.

I think the local garden didn't want to have them because of cabbage worms, which is odd because the only thing cabbage worms go after is brassicas (though I think the birds or something takes care of mine, THey usually eat a bit, and then are gone).

And if they ever did become a problem it is easy enough to dose them with worm plague. I think it may even be permantly in my garden, because I see lots of moths, lots of eggs, lots of teeny worms, then they are gone.

Wed, 2011-09-14 23:14

#16

Boom Boom

What the heck is a brassica? I'll google.

Thu, 2011-09-15 18:35

#17

Gaian

"They grow forever...at least here on the best coast ;)"

Ah, magicmushroomland in reflective mode.

Sat, 2011-10-22 08:45

#18

Gaian

The monarch butterflies that last fed on the dahlias 10 days ago are well out of it. The last blooms are about to be shrivelled by first frost tonight, the latest arrival that I can recall here on the 44th parallel in the pocket of the Great Lakes. And now I can put out the suet feeder for the nuthatches. The chickadees have been happy with black sunflower seeds but will certainly dine on suet alongside the nuthatches.

Sparrows and doves are enjoying the white millet that can be spread over a harvested garden area now that the spuds are in. And at only $15 dollars a 50-pound bag, millet is a welcome ground-feeder replacement for black sunflower. Apparently the southern Manitoba crop was beaten up by rain this spring. It seemed that weather across the prairies varied along rigid longditudinal lines. Shades of changes to come.

Sun, 2011-10-23 15:16

#19

Gaian

There was a frost, but there was also another monarch. Great Gaia I hope he/she makes it .

Sun, 2011-10-23 15:56

#20

Catchfire

I'm about to harvest some pumpkins and turn them into a delicious punkin porter. Looking forward to it, although pumpkin beers are always difficult. Not to mention that they taste best when the pumpkin harvest comes in, but they won't be ready until next spring when I'll be in the mood for something lighter. Hopefully there will be some left by next year!

Thu, 2011-10-27 08:53

#21

Gaian

A real freeze tonight will force - finally - digging the dahlia corms (bulbs?) and composting the geraniums remaining outside. And the two young Christmas cactuses inside are about to flower, even though they remain in a bright, east-facing window. Hopefully they can be encourae to bloom again in winter, along with their parent plant, which seems to have a better tag on seasons.

Thu, 2011-10-27 13:04

#22

6079_Smith_W

@ Gaian

Christmas cacti are one of those plants that are triggered to flower by length of day. They need a certain amount of darkness before they will do anything, and sometimes if they are in a window that faces on a streetlamp they will not flower at all. Ours have just started, and I expect they will bloom twice this winter.

I have heard that it is not good to move them, because the flowers might turn and twist themselves off. They also do not like draughts.

@ Catchfire

The pumpkin beer sounds intriguing. I didn't know there was enough sugar in them. I'll have to read up on some recipes.

I am just debating when to get the roots and tubers out of the ground. things could start freezing hard anytime now.

Thu, 2011-10-27 22:38

#23

Catchfire

The sugar in the pumpkin is not enough, by a long shot, to make beer out of. But adding a few pounds of roasted pumpkin to your grain mash adds some lively fruity flavour. Traditionally, you add some adjunct spices like cinnamon and nutmeg and you get a lovely pumpkin pie amber ale. I'm making a porter, which will have much more caramel, even chocolate notes. Hard to pull off, but it should work out.

If you do make beer, but don't use grain, you can either make a "pumpkin tea" from steeped roasted pumpkin and add it too your wort, or just throw it into the fermenter. The only problem is, the beer won't be ready until pumpkin is well out of season! When you may no longer be craving squash beer.