Got some turnips.

[jal_ut]

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/turnip_7_2_2011.jpg[/img]

Things are looking up. I have some turnips ready. The sugar peas are a few days off, but I snitched a few small pods any way.

92 today and the rel. humidity is 24%.

[applestar]

Lovely!

Do turnips bolt if you miss harvest timing?
I have these red skinned white fleshed TURNIPS that I thought were beets and letting grow. I just pulled a couple of nice sized ones and ate them -- that's when I realized my mistake. Now I'm nervously keeping watch on the rest....

[Beansie_time]

those look great, I think I'll have some ready soon. My daughter loves pulling root veggies so it will be a fun day for her.

[jal_ut]

applestar, Turnips usually grow as a biennial. Occasionally you will get one that wants to be an annual. In fact I pulled one such plant out of my row today. I won't save seed from the annual ones because I don't want to grow annual turnips.

I made the mistake of saving some seed from a chard plant that went to seed on its first year. When I planted the seed it all wanted to bloom and I didn't get the nice big leaves I expect from chard.

[orgoveg]

Yeah, I've got turnips ready, too. I love the greens but I don't care for the roots. How do y'all prepare them to mask the strong flavor? Maybe you like the flavor and you don't mask it. My uncle tells me that I've never had them prepared right, but he has yet to show me what "right" is.

I've tried cooking them with onions and celery and then creaming them with heavy cream, butter, garlic, and salt/pepper. My next trick is using yellow sauce. I kind of expect a flavor like potatoes, but I know I'm not going to get that. The flavor just doesn't please my palate.

I'm considering growing the "seven" variety next year since they produce big greens and little root.

[applestar]

I've been making Asian style sweet and salty pressed overnight pickles. I don't have the recipe at the moment and my latest experiment involved using salty plum pickle vinegar (Ume-su) from last year and freshly made Red Shiso "juice" concentrate.

I believe the proper method is to heat vinegar, add sugar and salt, then pour the hot liquid over the thinly sliced turnip and turnip greens (also good with daikon, carrots, cabbage and Chinese cabbage). Put a plate or bowl on top and weigh it down overnight~3 days. Good accompaniment to cooked rice. Most people eat with a drizzle of soy sauce.

--
@JAL - thanks for your reply!
That's a really good point about not saving the precocious seeds. I never thought of that!

[TZ -OH6]

I put turnips in my cajun cabbage stew. Cabbage, chicken stock, smoked sausage, a little basil, thyme and marjoram, salt, pepper and cubed turnips. I never really notice much of a strong taste. It just adds more or less neutral chunks to the dish.

[BrianIllinois]

Make a soup with some pork, diced turnip, diced potato, green beens, a little onion, and fresh parsley.

[garden5]

applestar, Turnips usually grow as a biennial. Occasionally you will get one that wants to be an annual. In fact I pulled one such plant out of my row today. I won't save seed from the annual ones because I don't want to grow annual turnips.

I made the mistake of saving some seed from a chard plant that went to seed on its first year. When I planted the seed it all wanted to bloom and I didn't get the nice big leaves I expect from chard.

Jal, your turnups look great, but this post taught me something new. I would have never though about a second generation plant bearing the same flowering tendencies as its parent, but it makes sense...I learn something new everyday here.

[jal_ut]

Turnips are in the cabbage family. They actually taste exactly like the core in a head of cabbage. I suppose you could grate them up and make cole slaw. I sometimes just steam them a bit and eat them served with butter and salt. My favorite way to eat a turnip is just peel it, slice thin and eat it raw. I guess I got a taste for that when I was a child, my Grandfather used to send me out to the garden to get some turnips and we would sit in the shade and he would peel them and slice them for us. They are best when small and tender about 2 inches diameter.

[orgoveg]

Maybe I let them get too big (about 3 inches). I'm sure growing conditions and cultivar variety make a difference, too. I love cabbage, especially sauerkraut and cole slaw. My turnips are definitely a different flavor, but I might try shredding one for cole slaw and compare.

A cajun dish sounds like a good idea. I make a mean gumbo. Those pickles sound really good, too.

[bogydave]

Very nice looking turnips.
I have some growing but it will be a few weeks yet.
Getting kohlrabi though. Almost the same flavor.

[hit or miss]

Peel, slice and eat here! Jal, nice turnips! We also make a turnip kraut with them. I don't have a recipe, so don't ask! It has a vinegar/sweet/spicy thing going on!

[DeborahL]

James, how neat ! Especially after all the snow and rain ! My favorite is raw slices too. So good.