Turnip

The turnip is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. Small, tender, varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock.

Description: The most common type of turnip is mostly white-skinned apart from the upper 1-6 centimeters, which protrude above the ground and are purple, red, or greenish wherever sunlight has fallen. This above-ground part develops from stem tissue, but is fused with the root. The interior flesh is entirely white. The entire root is roughly spherical, about 5-20 centimeters in diameter, and lacks side roots.

The taproot is thin and 10 centimeters or more in length; it is trimmed off before marketing. The leaves grow directly from the above-ground shoulder of the root, with little or no visible crown or neck (as found in rutabagas). Turnip leaves are sometimes eaten, and resemble mustard greens; varieties specifically grown for the greens resemble mustard greens more than those grown for the roots, with small or no storage roots. Varieties that have been developed specifically for use as leaf vegetables are called Chinese cabbage. Both leaves and root have a pungent flavor similar to raw cabbage or radishes that becomes mild after cooking.

Turnip roots weigh up to about 1 kilogram, although they can be harvested when smaller. Size is partly a function of variety and partly a function of the length of time that the turnip has grown. Most very small turnips (also called baby turnips) are specialty varieties. These are only available when freshly harvested and do not keep well. Most baby turnips can be eaten whole, including their leaves. Baby turnips come in yellow-, orange-, and red-fleshed varieties as well as white-fleshed. Their flavor is mild, so they can be eaten raw in salads like radishes.

Nutrition: Turnips are high in Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Potassium and Copper.

Origin: Although the turnip is a well-established crop in Hellenistic and Roman times, which leads to the assumption that it was brought into cultivation at a previous time. Wild forms of the turnip and its relatives the mustards and radish can be found over west Asia and Europe, suggesting that their domestication took place somewhere in that area.