BH recipes

Hakurei Turnips

Japanese salad turnips.

 

The turnips we grow are not your grandmother's turnips. At least not if you grew up in Berks County. We grow the Hakurei Turnip, which is a Japanese salad turnip. They have the texture of a radish with a little less heat. You can use them any way you would traditionally use turnips. They have none of the bitterness of a traditional purple top white globe turnip.  These turnips are almost unjustified when cooked. I recommend eating these raw. You may cook them as you would any other turnip but eaten raw you truly enjoy their unique qualities. 

And don’t forget the greens.  In spring when the greens are abundant eat them in salads or in stir-fries. After a frost they become almost as sweet as candy.

Storage:

As with all roots they are best stored in a plastic bag in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator. Remember to remove and eat the greens first within 2 weeks.  These turnips will store nicely for up to 6 months.

 Recipe Ideas:

* Turnips sautéed with mushrooms, onions, and finished with Miso: turnips sliced thin and sauté  with onion until soft, add chopped mushrooms. When it is all cooked add Miso paste to taste.

    * Turnip and Lentil Curry over Basmati Rice: Cubed Turnips sautéed with garlic chives, basil, lentils, curry powder, and coconut milk.

    * Turnip dill cream sauce: to be served over almost anything. Steam turnips whole. Place in food processor with dill and goat cheese. Blend until smooth.

·      Turnip and Mushroom Struedel: Chop all vegetables small. Sautee onions, garlic scapes, turnips, carrots, mushroom, & thyme in butter. When cooked place in a different pan and put in refrigerator to cool. In a baking dish drizzle the bottom with olive oil. Slice patty pan squash very thin and place on bottom of pan. Meanwhile, separate filo dough sheets and drizzle each layer with olive oil. With 6 or more layers stacked fill with the sautéed and cooled vegetables and roll. Place in pan above patty pan squash. You can make several of these rolls or one big one, whichever you desire. Bake at 425 for 29 minutes or until filo dough becomes brown. Top with above turnip cream sauce. Yummy.

·      Mashed turnips- Our hakurei turnips are great when made the same as potatoes for mashed potatoes.

·      My favorite way to eat them is sliced raw with a few drops of soy sauce. This is a great substitute for chips.

·      They also make a wonderful Kim Chee.