Turnip greens

[orflo]

Has anyone grown these? They are the finest, most tasty leaves for stir-frying, and give a good winter crop (but again:how much cold do they support?) I sow them in August or even in July, and I can't wait for the first harvest, besides stir-frying you can add them to lasagne, sauces and so on. The plants become 50 cms high, that's about 20 inches and have no enemies (except for slugs and sometimes pigeons). The turnip itself (which is mostly way smaller than 'true' turnips can indeed be very good as well, but it depends a bit on the variety.Production of leaves is very good, they resprout very easily when cut, 15 of these plants give me lots of leaves, even too much to handle

By orflo, shot with DiMAGE A2 at 2008-10-31

By orflo, shot with DiMAGE A2 at 2008-10-31

[PatrickW]

I love turnip greens!

I haven't grown them in a couple of years, but I used to grow a variety of turnip called Orange Jelly, a dual purpose leaf/root variety.

It's the time of year you find the leaves in markets around Amsterdam.

[ottawagardener]

I grow seven top turnip greens (same?) and it is delcious! I don't think too many plants come up from my sowing this year in the polytunnel but I'll enjoy those that do nonetheless.

[stevil]

I've grown a couple of varieties - one simply called "Turnip Greens" and the other a serrated-leaf cultivar "Namenia". Yes, excellent for stir-fries and salads...

However, I grow mine early in the year. I found that by sowing the seed of Turnip Greens, Mustard Greens, Mizuna, Mibuna, Rocket etc. in a cold greenhouse as soon as the earth is workable (i.e., as soon as it has thawed), which is normally the second part of March here in the greenhouse, I get a good harvest of cut-and-come again fresh greens throughout May before it's warm enough to plant out Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Yacon etc early in June. In May, I actually have a glut of leafy greens as the perennial veggies are also best at this time of year, although I can start harvesting them even earlier (in April).

[canadamike]

I'll definitely have to stir fry more than I do, cause I love the idea of eating these healthy greens but frankly my palate does not follow. However, I never liked turnip much, but this year I grew ORANGE JELLY and wow, what a good one, like a lest robust rutabaga.

I keep being amazed at the taste of many of the 29 heirloom potatoes I grew. I recommend everybody here to leave the usual favorites to explore, there is much for the palate to discover.

[PatrickW]

Michel,

One of my favorite turnip recipes is Italian Turnip Soup:

www.soupsong.com/rturnip1.html (Don't forget the garnish, parsley/parmesan, very important)

The flavor of turnips really changes when they are fried a little.

As far as the greens of Orange Jelly, they are okay, but if you have a chance to try greens from a turnip variety breed only for their leaves, you should try them too.

[Alan]

Turnip greens are a pretty big item here in Southern Indiana. We eat quite a few of them here at home and sell a lot of them at market and at the farm stands as well. We grow "Seven Top" mostly for greens but also sell a little bit of the greens from other varieties, mostly purple top globe. Actually it was through turnips that I was able to turn more people on to things like Kale and Collards which weren't popular items in this area before. In the fall and spring we make sure we have whole gardens full of these lovely goodies!

[canadamike]

when I went to Florida 2 years ago I bought a can of collards and one of turnips, greens and meat of the roots. It said something like ''southern style'' or whatever on it. BEURK!! Disgusting. The friggin things tasted like smoke. I was expecting spicy, which they were a bit, but smokey???

[Alan]

Just boil you up some water Mike, throw the turnips in with some "jawl" bacon (by the way this will totally negate any positive benefit that "greens might have) and cook it down. Boil a couple of eggs and go to town. That's the Southern Indiana way to eat turnips and collards. BTW, leave the actual turnip out of the greens, that's is disgusting!

[canadamike]

Thanks buddy, I'll try it, with and without the bacon

[houseodessey]

The bacon is key. And for me, tabasco pepper vinegar is necessary as well. Gives it a little kick. Like Alan said, definitely leave the turnip root out. I reserve those for stews and sometimes fake mashed potatoes.