Turnip
Brassica rapa var. rapa
I
’ve had great blessings in my professional life the soil is at least 40ºF. With 12-inch leaves and
both on and off television. First has been a 2- to 3-inch root in 30 days, you can easily go
Treena and her production skills, and second for a second and even third planting to coin
has been every one of my food assistants, from cide with the early winter frost, when they are
Barbara to Patricia to Anne to Robert and fi at their very best and sweetened by their expo
nally to Suzanne Butler, with whom I’ve made sure to the cold.
more than a thousand television shows. After my first season, I discovered the sensa-
I mention this because turnips were what tional Tokyo Kobaku variety—those smooth,
brought Suzanne’s remarkable gifts to my at white, golf-ball-size orbs of flavor that are truly
tention! excellent.
I visited her small-town deli called Red Just one added note: when making a truly
Bread back in the early 1990s. She was reserved great vegetable stock, always add turnip, as its
at first but then revealed the object of her un flavor makes a remarkable contribution to the
reserved enthusiasm: the first of the season’s stock.
young , tender turnips. I remember her face
flushed with delight, and I was equally taken
aback. I’d never considered a turnip as worthy
of such unbridled praise! The Numbers
Therefore, how could I have a kitchen gar- For each 100 g boiled (3.5 oz ; ½ cup): 20 calories, 0 g
den without turnips? fat, 0 g saturated fat; 4 g carbohydrate, 1 g protein,
Turnips can be started in early spring , when 4 g dietary fiber, 29 mg sodium
256 • GROWING AT THE SPEED OF LIFE
