Turnip Greens

"Thank God for good directions and turnip greens..."  - Billy Currington from his song, "Good Directions"

I've tried year after year to develop a taste for turnips.  So far, no dice.  I just don't like 'em.  At all.  My eyes fool me into thinking they are potatoes in the pot, but the taste is just so different to me.  A little bitter - just not tasty.  I know plenty people disagree, but I just can't like them.  But, turnip greens are another story.  Turnip greens, especially when young and tender, are absolutely delicious.  I planted a row of turnips entirely too close, but intending to feed the turnip roots all to the cows over the winter.  The cows really like them.  I've read numerous stories about farmers in the old days keeping their livestock healthy over the winter by feeding them root crops like turnips and beets.

Turnip seeds are very, very small.  I have a brown paper bag of turnip seeds that I've had in the freezer for years and years.  Despite the age of these seeds, the germination has got to be near 100%.  After planting them this year, I put the seeds back in the freezer.  I must still have 1/4 of a pound of seeds.  At this rate, I'll run out around 2030.

The turnips are planted on the first row in the garden, so it is very convenient to go pick a "mess" of them each night before supper, wash them up, and cook them.  We've had a few warm days which have brought some bug out of dormancy to begin eating some of the turnip greens, but for the most part, they are healthy and fine.

Tonight we're just eating turnip greens, but Tricia likes to mix mustard greens with them, along with chard, kale and beet greens.  We'll wash them up and then slice them and put them in a cast iron skillet to cook them down.

So delicious and so healthy, too! 

The turnip greens are located at the 12 o'clock position on the plate above.  I ate all those and went back for seconds with the quickness!

I Love All Vegetables Except for One...

When I was a kid, I was kind of a picky eater.  I didn't like mustard greens, spinach, brussels sprouts, or any number of other vegetables.  I didn't venture out much from green beans, petit pois peas and carrots.  I know many young people are the same.  I don't know at what point my taste buds changed or my vegetable horizons broadened, but I absolutely love vegetables now - even semi-weird stuff like kale, chard, and bok choy.  Don't get me wrong, I love to eat meat, but I like to have a bunch of side dishes consisting of good homegrown vegetables.

There is one vegetable; however, that I just don't like.  Turnips.  Believe me, I have tried to like them. I've tried to cook them different ways - roasting it, boiling it, making a few different recipes with it. I've tried picking them when they are young and tender before they develop a strong taste.  I've tried to fool myself into thinking it is a potato, but it's to no avail.  I just don't like the taste.

I still grow the doggone things though.  I have a full row of them planted. Additionally, the other day while harvesting the sweet potatoes, there were a few turnips that had come up volunteer.  I pulled the big turnip root out of the loose soil and admired the turnip greens.  Now, I can eat the turnip greens, but not the roots.

Even though I can't eat them, there's someone (or a few someones) than can eat the roots, though! Those ol cows of ours...  They love both the roots and the greens.

I stood at the garden fence and pulled our three or four mature turnips and fed them the greens.  I then took the big old turnip roots and cut them up with my pocketknife and fed chunks of turnip to those girls.

They loved them.  To show their appreciation, they belched.  It was a nasty smelling turnip belch that stunk up the place with the foulest of odors and made me stop feeding them turnips and shoo them away.  They need to learn some manners. Goodness gracious!

As I mentioned I have a full row of turnips planted primarily for the cows.  They should mature in late January and the cows will look forward to me picking turnips and feeding them that.  I'll likely thin out the row now and then by pulling and eating the tender turnip greens.  I don't know, I might even try eating some young turnips to see if my taste buds have changed this year.