Turnips

Including Tokyo-type white turnip TURNIP GREENS

This is a refresher course for yet another vegetable that is neglected in much of the United States but is enjoyed throughout the rest of the temperate zone, where it flourishes in a kaleidoscope of colors and forms. Alan Davidson summarizes its geographical distribution: “The turnip spread from the classical world through Asia to N. China, where it had become a common vegetable well before the medieval period in Europe, and it was taken from China to Japan about 1, 300 years ago” (The Oxford Companion to Food). Today, no refresher course is needed in any of those lands, where it is eaten raw and pickled and cooked in multiple modes.