Saturday, November 19, 2011

Turnips and "Greens"

So today I bought all the things that I had left on my list of stuff for our Thanksgiving feast (not much). This always includes turnips for us. We love the roots. Our local IGA always had turnip roots with greens still attached for sale but they go quickly here in the South as "greens" are a big thing here. There are a lot of misconceptions about people in the South and a lot of things that may have been historically true but are no longer true anymore.

I found it funny that Wikipedia said this about turnip greens in the South:

In the Southern United States, stewed turnips are eaten as a root vegetable in the Autumn and Winter. The leaves or "greens" of the turnip are harvested and eaten all year. Turnip Greens are cooked with a ham hock or piece of fat pork meat, the juice produced in the stewing process is prized as "pot liquor". Stewed turnip greens are often eaten with vinegar.

So let me set the record straight. Those of us in the South who love turnips eat the roots year round when we can get them and yes, "greens" are eaten year round too and it doesn't matter if it is turnips, collards or kale. It is cooked with ham hock or pork fat but I have NEVER seen anyone do anything with the juice (or call it anything) except drain it down the sink. They are almost never eaten with vinegar here. Butter is put on them if they need anything(ok, it is a place where fried chicken and bacon grease are staples, lol--because they are yummy!--you see my issue with trying to eat healthy?).
I knew right where to get my turnips today because IGA has them so often but I did get going early so that I could get some. They put about 6 in the bunch with an elastic around them. As I said, I wanted them for the roots as Phil and I aren't real fond of the bitter taste of the greens (well, I like them but he doesn't care much for them and even I like them better when they are young)  but I can't let the greens go to waste so I picked out the best looking of the greens and dehydrated them.
Turnips are quite high in Vitamin C, calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and lutein.  I'll take my leaves and crumble up a little into the soups and stews I make to make them a bit more nutritious. You could even make a cream of turnip green soup if you wanted to. 

8 comments:

  1. Turnips are not popular here in the UK. I like them with stewed lamb.

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  2. Lamb is not popular here in the US. I have had it twice in my whole life. I don't know why it is not more popular because I felt it was very nice and appreciated the new taste.

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  3. My background is Greek and we eat lots of greens too. We cook them in a bot of boiling water until they are wilted and drain. then we do add a little oil and vinigar. They are the yummiest salad to have with a BBQ. maybe the wikipedia person got our cultures mixed up a bid.

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  4. When I lived in NH as a kid we ate greens (though the only greens we ate were spinach) with vinegar on them and I like it that way just fine but have gotten used to the butter now.

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  5. I think its funny when people have such vast misconceptions about cultures, we get it a lot in Ireland! I've travelled most of my life and never heard of vinegar on greens!!! Btw becky your gardens look great, I can't wait till I have my own space to plan :)

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  6. I guess because cultures are not as extremely different at they used it doesn't seem worth noting but there are still differences but we can't keep thinking that the "Eskimos still live in igloos". I would so love to learn more about Irish culture as it is today since I am from Irish decent. My maiden name is Sweeney. These blogs have been a real eye-opener to me about several different cultures.

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  7. I like when you and others show photos of greens and vegetables. They always look so good to eat. I myself have mostly been just a meat and potatoes guy but, will start experimenting more with greens and vegetables.

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  8. We are mostly meat and potatoes too John but we are trying to get more vegetables in. Growing some really helps because they taste so much better.

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