Turnips?

I did a search and found zero entries for turnips. What is everyone's favorite way to use turnips? I've had turnip greens before with spicy vinegar over them... excellent. Not sure how to make them though.

And what to do with the actual roots?

Another unhealthy recipe. Remember, I'm a country girl from Tennessee. Some things you HAVE to use bacon grease in: Green beans, turnips & cabbage. I'm pretty sure it's a state law that you have to use bacon grease in your cornbread instead of oil.

I don't like turnip greens, but I like the roots. Don't let them get too big (they'll be too strong/hot), baseball size or smaller. Peel them (apple peeler works great if you are doing a lot & they are smooth size). Either slice them thick or in wedges, cover with water, salt, pepper, a good sized pinch of sugar & about a teaspoon of bacon grease. I'm not being sarcastic here, but you have to cook them to death til the water is way down. They are wonderful the next day.

We also freeze turnips - just peel, slice & put in zip-lock freezer bags. No need to blanch them.

Thank you so much Dixie! We like our bacon grease in Texas too... can't have green beans without bacon and onions.

I like to slice or wedge turnips (root), sprinkle with a little sea salt, spray with olive oil & slow roast for 40-60 mins or so. Yummy sweetness, esp when mixed with other root veggies. You can also cut the little ones in matchsticks & eat raw... good on salads, like a radish - adds a little bitterness.

Turnip greens you have to wash to death and it takes a trash bag full to get a pots worth! Greens need fatback. (bacon will do in a pinch) Save the pot likker (the liquid left after cooking) & crumble up your cornbread in that.
At an Indian restaurant here they blanch them, cut finely & lightly sautee with garlic & shallots. Delish! Chop them into soups like kale.

IMHO Collard greens are better - easier to clean cause the leaves are smoother... they can be used even when really big cause they don't get bitter.

Ooh, roasting does sound good. I'll give that a try.

I agree with boiling them down with a little bacon grease and sugar in water, (spoken like a true southern girl,) but we also like them steamed, drizzled with a little olive oil, and sprinkled with salt.
We cut ours into french-fry shapes and add them raw to our fresh veggie trays. They're great for dippers or eaten with a little salt.
My favorite way to serve them is in a mix with other winter veggies, either roasted or stir-fried in a saute pan. I like to dice them about 1 inch, and stir-fry with other diced veggies in a little butter or olive oil. My favorite blend includes turnips, carrots, parsnips, celery root, brussel sprout halves, and celery. When they are crisp-tender remove from the heat and sprinkle with some crumbled bacon before serving. Mmmm good.
Some people like to serve mashed turnips, but they're not my thing.

We have always gardened in the traditional row-style and just built our first sfg box last week. When my husband went to till under last year's turnips and greens bed, he found several fresh turnips left that had survived all winter. What a nice and unexpected treat!

We only usually eat the roots, but when we have our own we will prbably eat the greens too.

we cook them and mash them along with potatoes (in the same pot). or add them to stews.Roast are good too.

Besides all the ways already listed (roasting is fabulous), I basically use them like potatoes. I'm diabetic so must severely limit potatoes which is my favourite food group. I often cook 1/3 potatoes, 1/3 cauliflower and 1/3 turnips and mash with butter and cream. Unless I tell folks, they rarely notice the difference. And it gives me my potato fix 'legally"!

I've only ever had turnip chopped and boiled then mashed, or chopped and roasted. Both ways are good! I've never heard of anybody eating turnip tops before, but that's probably just a regional thing.

Save the pot likker (the liquid left after cooking) & crumble up your cornbread in that. lol @ pot likker

IMHO Collard greens are better - easier to clean cause the leaves are smoother... they can be used even when really big cause they don't get bitter. i have a few collards in my spot that i'm hoping will fair better this summer than last. all last summer, those were the toughest most bitter collards i'd ever cooked. i finally gave up but continued to trim & nuture the plants thru the fall & winter. it was after the cool-down and frosts that they went from good to better to best. they served all my holiday meals, including new years, wonderfully.

Growing up, we never ate the turnip greens (must try that) but we ate them boiled and mashed with butter. My mother also made potato pancakes with half-and-half taters and turnips, those were very good, too.

When I was in grad school someone introduced me to rotmos, a Scandinavian dish which is basically carrots, turnips or swedes (rutabagas), and potatoes, roughly 1/3 each (or whatever you have), boiled and mashed together. Yum!

Belfry, that mix with cauliflower sounds great, too. Somewhere (Moosewood cookbook?) there is a great cauliflower curry that even my picky husband likes.

The only way I've ever had them was added to soups/chowders/stews. I use them just like a carrot or potato. It's great in a chicken-corn chowder as a substitute or in addition to carrots.

My neighbor introduced me to this way of eating turnips, and we love it.

Peel if you like (we don't). slice and boil till tender
drain, add butter to a skillet
add turnips and brown slightly. drizzle a little honey over them and serve warm.

Butterbean wrote:My neighbor introduced me to this way of eating turnips, and we love it.

Peel if you like (we don't). slice and boil till tender
drain, add butter to a skillet
add turnips and brown slightly. drizzle a little honey over them and serve warm.

When I was growing up, we boiled chunks of turnip until tender, then mashed them with butter and served warm.... pretty similar.

Butterbean wrote:My neighbor introduced me to this way of eating turnips, and we love it.

Peel if you like (we don't). slice and boil till tender
drain, add butter to a skillet
add turnips and brown slightly. drizzle a little honey over them and serve warm.

Butterbean, are you saying one doesn't have to peel turnips? I never knew that. Do they retain their purple color when cooked?

There was a great discussion about turnips and rutagabas not that long ago. Try this link to it below:

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/general-sfg-talk-f5/first-time-for-turnips-results-looking-good-t2178.htm?highlight=turnips

It was interesting to learn how everyone prepared them!

Butterbean, are you saying one doesn't have to peel turnips? I never knew that. Do they retain their purple color when cooked?

Truthfully, i have only prepared turnips this way ( slicing and boil and toss em in the fry pan a bit). and when my neighbor told me of this method, she didnt say peel....i have never prepared a turnip in my life before this.....so i didnt peel. as far as the color i do believe they do retain a tad bit of color..we gobble em up so quick i have really never paid that much attention......sorry

Belfrybat - try mashed celeriac/celery root -- it's scrumptious! You chop the root and boil it, then mash -- just like mashed potatoes. Very low in sugar, high in flavor - I make it regularly because celeriac is cheap and easy to come by here -- and it's really, really good (hubby asks for it specially).

When I make a roasted chicken, I pile chopped root veggies underneath the rack - carrots, potatoes, celeriac, turnips, parsnips - whatever I have on hand -- it keeps the grease from spattering and smoking, and it bastes the veggies in all the fat from the chicken.

We sometimes eat all the vegetables before we even touch the chicken.

Butterbean wrote:

Butterbean, are you saying one doesn't have to peel turnips? I never knew that. Do they retain their purple color when cooked?

Truthfully, i have only prepared turnips this way ( slicing and boil and toss em in the fry pan a bit). and when my neighbor told me of this method, she didnt say peel....i have never prepared a turnip in my life before this.....so i didnt peel. as far as the color i do believe they do retain a tad bit of color..we gobble em up so quick i have really never paid that much attention......sorry

Storebought, big ol' turnips can get a little leathery on the outside. Since you're growing them yourself, I'm sure they are nice and tender.