Note: This column originally appeared Nov. 23, 2015.
When I was a kid I had a big picture book called “Turnips for Dinner,” which chronicled the attempts of a zoo keeper to feed his charges a diet of root vegetables.
One by one each animal turned up its nose/snout/beak in disgust until, at the story’s end, the elephant gobbled down every last turnip.
Good for him - but all those other picky eater animals were hard to forget, so I turned up my nose at the idea of turnips, too. Not that they ever ended up on our dinner table, either. Potatoes are way easier to peel.
I would have been content to live the rest of my life without letting a turnip pass my lips, had it not been for my grandpa’s best friend Harold. Harold, who is in his 70s, plants a huge garden every year and is an avid grower of cantaloupe and, among other crops, turnips.
A couple of years ago when we were at my grandparents’ getting the food ready for our family Thanksgiving meal, my grandpa said, “Here, I have something for you.”
From the back room he brought out two plastic grocery bags stuffed full of turnips, one for my dad, one for my uncle. Harold’s generosity was unparalleled — my grandpa had a bag of his own, as well. I guess turnips are the home gardener’s winter zucchini.
I assumed turnips were to be eaten boiled and mashed, like potatoes, but my dad started peeling the skin off one with his pocket knife, then sliced it up and handed it around raw.
Actually, it was pretty good. The flavor and texture of the flesh reminded me of a mild radish, or something similar, rather than a potato. By the end of Thanksgiving we’d polished off at least a few. Unfortunately, most of the turnips languished in our refrigerator’s vegetable drawer until we threw them out to make room for salad mix and my dad’s 10-pound bag of carrots. (Sorry, Harold.)
Turnips cropped up again in my life a couple of weeks ago when I was reading The Wall Street Journal’s weekend edition. An article in the Food & Drink section proclaimed “Turnip Time: Recipes for a Root You Should Be Eating More of.”
Mashing was one of the serving suggestions author Gail Monaghan provided (although I am not going to be mashing my turnips up with beets anytime soon, Gail), but she also offered recipes for spiced caramelized turnips; baked turnip gratin; turnip slaw with mango, celery and ginger; and raw turnip, carrots and apple salad with herbs.
I would never have thought of serving turnips with mango, personally. Then again, were it not for Harold, I probably would never have given turnips another thought at all.
If we make it home from Thanksgiving this year with another bag of Harold’s bounty, now I know what I’m making for dinner.
Amelia Freidline is a copy editor and Opinion page editor for The Packer. E-mail her at afreidline@farmjournal.com.
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