ISSUE 15, ROOTS, Part 1: Turnips

The Old Turnips

The Old Turnips

England went turnip mad in the 1700s, when agronomist Arthur Young proclaimed that it would nourish Britain’s sheep in wintertime and grace the January table for humans.  Turnips were grown prior to Young’s campaign, particularly in Wales.  But farmers with livestock made it a staple by the 1780s.  Literate farmers in North America developed an interest as well. It could be winter grown in the South and summer grown in the North.  Feed turnips were sometimes left in the grown after the first frost and exhumed when need, or left for hogs to root. 

What exactly were the turnip varieties grown in our region during the early 1800s. And where did farmers procure seed?  Well here’s a list of varieties—a list full of strange names—with their date of introduction, name of the local broker, and geographic seed source:

_.____

Early Flat Dutch          1830                Wilson Phil

Early Spring                1820             Thornton NY- NE

Fine Early Stone          1830                Wilson Phil

Green Round               1811                 Nesbet London

Green Top                   1820             Thornton NY- NE [see image above]

Yellow Scotch             1820                Thornton NY-NE

Large Norfolk             1808                Wilson London

Large Silver                 1800                Vale SC

Large White Flat        1819                Thornton NY

London White             1804                Wilson London

Long Transparent       1816                Wilson London

Norfolk                       1800                Vale London

Red Top                      1820                Thornton NY- NE

Red Top Tankard       1825                Wilson Liverpool

French, or Hanover   1820                Thornton NY- NE

Short Top                    1808                Wilson London

Snowball                     1848                Landreth PA

Strap Leaf                    1849                Dawson Liverpool

Swan’s Egg                 1837                Wilson NY

White Scotch Globe    1823                Robb ?

White Top Tankard     1825               Wilson Liverpool

Yellow                        1808                Wilson London

Yellow Stone              1811                Nesbet London

The number of turnip varieties is noteworthy.  It had become an important root vegetable and intensive breeding had been undertaken in Britain and the continent.  In the 21st century we tend to think of turnips being white—in part because the greatest turnips bred in the 20th century were beautifully white Japanese types (the large round Shogoin, the ball shaped snow white Tennoji, and flat round Tokyo, the delicate, fine textured white Tokinashi, and the round sweet perfectly white Hakurei. So the yellow fleshed turnips, green turnips, and red skinned pink fleshed turnips seemed oddities.  While heirloom yellow turnips survive for planting, they have no following in the South because they tend to woodiness. The orange rutabaga supplies the needs of people craving a carotene  hue in their cooked roots. Green turnips suffered from the market perception that they were not mature.  Turnips with top color are familiar because the Purple Top Milan (a variety introduced after 1850 in the South) remains a market variety—big, hardy, and somewhat disease resistant.  This turnip and the listed Green Top, Red Top, and Whit Top Tankard (all vanished varieties) lay half exposed in the soil—that part remaining exposed taking on a color different from the white root below grade. 

So what could you plant now?  Early Flat Dutch remains available, as does the Norfolk, The London White (white globe), The Snowball, the Strap Leaf, and the Long Transparent (now largely a feed rapa—known also as cow horn).  You could also try your hand at growing a green top or a yellow turnip if you wish—but the old liabilities have not been overcome.  All of these old varieties except the snowball have a coarse internal grain when compared to the modern Hakurei.  But they are fine flavored when grown in good soil.  There isn’t much discussion of taste quality in turnips these days, but in the early 20th century (1913 particularly) people noticed the decline in flavor as fertilizing schemes altered.  Soil quality matters more for turnips than any other root crop.  Living soil with the proper ph will produce a sweet mellow turnip with a hint of mint and touch of radish bite. 

Favorite way of eating them—raw, thinly slice, with salt, lime juice, mint and pecan oil.  Cooked I like them roasted or mashed (with cream and salt).