Cooking with Hakurei White Turnips

Prior to a few weeks ago, I had never cooked with turnips. I most certainly never bought them in the grocery store; I never ever considered it. I never gave turnips a thought.

But a few weeks ago, we received turnips in a couple of our weekly shares from our CSA. They weren't just any turnips, they were Hakurei White Turnips. After some web investigation, I found that these turnips were called "salad turnips" and were best eaten raw.

I cut a small one up to try. It was crunchy, slightly earthy, but I couldn't just eat it raw, so I added it to a few recipes in my repertoire.

I replaced the radish (pictured below) in my Radish Canapes with a thin slice of turnip. Not a bad little afternoon snack. I like this snack with dill.


I ran the radishes through the food processor and added them to my Purple Cabbage and Broccoli Slaw. Honestly, I couldn't even taste them with all of the other veggies in the salad, so if you are a little unsure about turnips this is a great way to mask them when eating raw.


Finally I cooked them with garlic and potatoes and made Smashed Garlic Potatoes & Turnips. Apparently, these turnips are best eaten raw, but these smashed potatoes were delicious and so easy to make.

In a large soup pan, add 2 lbs. potatoes, 2 large turnips, 3-4 garlic cloves and cover with water. Bring to a boil and add 2 Tbsp salt. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes until soft. Reserve a cup of the water and set aside. Drain the rest of the water. With a potato masher, add enough potato water and/or sour cream and smash the potatoes until you get your desired consistency.


Do you like turnips? What is your favorite way to eat them?

If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS, there are four ways to do so:

• through your RSS Feed
• have updates sent to your email,
• become a fan and 'like' FBS on Facebook
• become a Twitter follower

This post is linked to:

• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
• Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade