Glazed Turnips

Another rarity arrived in our CSA box: turnips. Not just turnips, but "Tokyo turnips."  Here's how they are described by my CSA:

Tokyo Turnips are a mild, juicy variety of turnip. We eat the tender roots of this plant, which grows in cool weather fall through late spring. Tokyo Turnips are tender, slightly spicy and taste like a cross between a radish and a turnip.

Tokyo turnips are smaller than your typical turnip. They are mostly white but they may have some brown tones on the skin. They lack the purplish hue you see in the typical turnips. Their stems and leaves are also smaller.

Right around the time they arrived in the box, the local SF newspaper had a short article on turnips.

There are various ways to enjoy turnips. They can be eaten raw just like you might eat raw radishes. They can be cooked whole either steamed or roasted. Add them as a side to a BBQ-based dinner. Rub whole or halved turnips with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and grill until lightly charred and slightly soft (15-20 mins.).

For my venture run, I decided to follow the SF Chronicle's suggestion and go the with glazed turnips recipe which is very similar to the Alice's carrots recipe that has become a staple in the house.

Glazed Turnips

Ingredients:

• Butter - 1 generous pat
• 6 Tokyo turnips - cleaned, trimmed, and quartered
• salt - dash
• sugar - dash
• pepper - freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions:

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium high heat. When it foams, add the quartered turnips and shake pan to coat butter. Add pepper, salt, and sugar. Cook for 5 minutes until a golden fringes appear on the edges. Add enough water to come up about just less than 1/3 of the height of the turnip. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower hear and simmer for about 10 minutes until tender. Garnish with herb of choice.


The turnip flavor is very interesting and complex. You get the vegetable blandness of cauliflower but then a bit of mild heat like mustard comes in. A mix of potato flavors and then radish flavors. Looking forward to more opportunities to explore turnips.