Turnips

Guide Note

Turnips are root vegetables from the Brassicaceae family, which also furnishes vegetables and condiments such as cabbage, broccoli, kale, mustard, and horseradish. The wild form of the turnip has a hot, spicy quality similar to mustard and horseradish, but cultivation has sweetened it.

Fast Facts

1. Species: Brassica rapa
2. Cultivated since ancient times
3. High in fiber, Vitamin C, and other nutrients
4. Similar to the rutabaga, but less coarse

While it isn't known where turnips originally came from, or who first domesticated them, their wild relatives are common throughout much of the world, and they are mentioned in sources from roughly the time of Alexander the Great. By the Middle Ages they were established as a hardy subsistence crop in Europe, and have ever since been a humble, but useful fall and winter vegetable in Western cuisine. Turnips are commonly used in soups, but can also be roasted or boiled, or sliced and served raw. Turnip greens can be boiled or steamed, and have a flavor like many of the other brassicas, although milder than mustard greens.