Rutabagas & Turnips….Give Them A Chance!

By Andrea Yoder

Rutabagas

Winter can be a challenging time to eat seasonally and locally for many in the upper Midwest and sometimes we have to think “outside the box” as we get creative with preparing storage vegetables until spring returns.  Root vegetables such as celeriac, turnips and rutabagas often get a bad wrap, and honestly—most of the time it’s because someone is intimidated by them, doesn’t have a clue what to do with them, or has had a bad experience with them (….as in their mother or grandmother served them overcooked vegetables!!!!).  So this week, we’re going to bring two of these often underappreciated roots out of the shadows and give them a brief moment of fame.  Let me introduce you to the stars of this week’s show---Rutabagas and Turnips!

Gold Turnips, Sweet Scarlet Turnips, and Purple Top Turnips

I asked Richard how long he’s been growing rutabagas and turnips.  His reply, “Almost forever!”  His earliest memories of these vegetables goes back to his Grandpa Nick who grew them in his garden, both to feed his family as well as his animals through the winter.  Even though we grow these every year, we’ve tried to limit the number of storage turnips and rutabagas we’ve included in late season boxes.  In fact, many years we haven’t even put rutabagas in the box and still we have people tell us in end of the season surveys that they “got too many rutabagas!”  Perhaps they are confusing rutabagas and turnips or maybe they just haven’t been able to surmount that hurdle of “What the heck do I do with these roots?!”  Friends, I hope you’ll trust me on this and know that both of these humble vegetables have and deserve a place on our tables this winter, just as they’ve graced the tables of our ancestors for hundreds of years before us!  Both rutabagas and turnips have a long history in the culture of peoples from northern regions such as Norway, Sweden, Finland, Scotland, Ireland, and northern Asia.  This is because both of these vegetables grow well in regions with a colder climate where other crops can’t be produced.

Hand-harvesting rutabagas on a sunny fall day

Consider what it was like to live in a time where you had to eat what you could grow because transportation just wasn’t available.  It’s too cold to grow bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes and even some grains, but you can grow potatoes, carrots, cabbage, turnips, rutabagas.  Now it makes more sense why some of these root vegetables became such an integral part of these cultures!  In Norway the nickname for rutabagas is “Nordens Oransje” which means, “Orange of the North.”  This brings up another important point about these roots.  It’s not just that they are able to be grown in these areas, they also provide valuable energy, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that our bodies need to stay healthy over the winter.  As the nickname indicates, rutabagas are actually a pretty good source of vitamin C.  Of course, I should mention that both rutabagas and turnips are members of the brassica family which is known to be a family of important foods that provide us with antioxidants and other phytochemicals that build up our immune systems, prevent cancer and protect our bodies in many other ways.  So it seems, nature does provide us with the foods we need.  Now it’s our job to embrace them!

Scarlet turnips as far as you can see!

In Scotland rutabagas are called “neeps,” while in Ireland rutabagas are called “turnips” and the English seem to follow the lead from Sweden and call them “swedes.”  As you can see, turnips and rutabagas are often confused.  Rutabagas are a buttercream yellow with purple shoulders.  They are often on the larger size growing anywhere from 5-7 inches in diameter, or bigger!  The ones in your box this week are on the small side and, while not necessarily good for yields and profitability, you will find them more manageable to work with.  Rutabagas have more of a pointy bottom on the root end and often have a Dr. Seuss like stem, although we often trim away most of the stem so all you see is the stem stump on top.  Turnips on the other hand are more rounded, or more of a flattened round shape.  The traditional storage turnip is a purple top turnip that has a white bottom with purple shoulders.

Rutabaga leaves--seldom eaten by people,
but excellent forage for animals!

See why it’s easy to confuse them with rutabagas?  In addition to purple top turnips, we also grow golden and sweet scarlet turnips.  All three of these varieties store very well, but we think the flavor is different amongst these three and we tend to favor the golden and sweet scarlet varieties.  However, it’s important to note that, as with many other vegetables in the Brassica family, the flavor of the vegetable is significantly impacted by exposure to cold.  The turnips and rutabagas we harvest early in the fall before we’ve had frost are not as sweet and mild as those harvested after a few chilly nights.  The other factor that affects taste is how you cook them.  If I were allowed to have only one pet peeve in the world, it would be “Do Not Overcook Brassicas!”  Turnips and rutabagas need to breath, so when you’re cooking them either leave the lid off or at least open it up a bit.  If you don’t, all of those sulfur containing phytochemicals which make these vegetables so darn healthy for us will volatilize, build up in the steam and get trapped in the pot.  When you remove the lid, WHOOEEEE they do NOT smell good!  Many a grandmother and mother of the past have subjected their families to boiled turnips and rutabagas that simmered away in a big pot on the stove, covered, for hours filling the whole house with their stench.  No one wants to sit down to the table to eat overcooked vegetables.  Just don’t do it, ok?

Cornish Pasties, made with a variety of root vegetables

Turnips and rutabagas have also been known as “peasant food” or “animal fodder.”  Now, would you rather eat something with the reputation as being good enough to feed the peasants and animals or something fit for a king?  Well, actually I think it’s a testament to the vegetable that it’s versatile enough to feed both a human and an animal.  Furthermore, farmers often used these vegetables as feed as well as forage crops (letting the animals graze and eat the green tops) because they were a valuable source of nutrition in the days before hybrid grain varieties were available.  Prior to these hybrid varieties, corn and other grains couldn’t always be grown in some of these northern climates because the growing season wasn’t long enough.  Additionally, turnips and rutabagas could be stored and fed to the animals all winter!  In addition to his memories of Grandpa Nick, Richard also remembers seeing bunker silos full of root vegetables being stored as winter animal feed when he visited Europe.  Once we had cheap grain available, these crops fell out of favor for use with animals.  So it has nothing to do with the fact that the rutabaga or turnip is a crop of lesser value and thus was fed to the animals or lower rungs of society.

Turnip lanterns to celebrate Räbelichtli,
photo from mrs-twinkle.com

Ok, two fun facts before we wrap up.  Did you know there is a festival called Räbeliechtli that is celebrated in German speaking regions throughout Switzerland?  This word comes from “rabe” meaning turnip and “liecht” meaning light.  It’s celebrated in early November and includes a procession or parade at night in the dark in which children carry lanterns carved from turnips!  So if you really can’t find anything to make with a turnip or a rutabaga, at least turn it into a fun, creative project and carve it into a lantern.  Here’s how!

International Rutabaga Curling Championship
photo from visitithaca.com

The other fun fact I want to share with you is that there is actually a sporting event held in celebration of the rutabaga.  That’s right, there is an International Rutabaga Curling Championship held in Ithaca, New York every year towards the end of December at the Ithaca Farmers’ Market.  The event is open to both amateurs and professionals and, according to this website, ‘Preparation is crucial. “Athletes must prepare by sending positive vibes to the Gods of Rutabagas.  First-time spectators cannot possibly be prepared for this event.”’  I know we have some CSA members with ties to Ithaca as well as the sport of curling (Kathy P, I’m looking at you).  If anyone has ever attended or participated in this event, I want to know about it!

I really hope you’ll give these humble vegetables a chance this winter.  While they are seldom the focus of a dish, they can easily be incorporated into many tasty dishes that will nourish your body and keep you well throughout the winter.  I haven’t told you much about cooking them yet, but that information can be found in this week’s “What’s In the Box” newsletter which features rutabagas.  Congratulations Friend, you’ve made it to the end of the season!

November 29, 2018 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Storage Turnips

Cooking With This Week's Box

Red & Yellow Onions: Jamie Oliver’s World’s Best Baked Onions; Creamed Onion Gratin

Italian Garlic: Roasted Garlic Hummus

Covington Sweet Potatoes: Thai Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup with Curry Roasted Cashews

Orange Carrots: Thai Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup with Curry Roasted Cashews; Raw Carrot Pasta with Ginger Lime Peanut Sauce

Spaghetti Squash: Spaghetti Squash Fritters

Festival Squash: Festival Squash with Kale & Sausage

Black Spanish Radish: Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter & Rice

Green Savoy Cabbage: Kohlrabi & Cabbage  Slaw; Cabbage Pad Thai with Tofu; Cabbage & Sunchoke Pizza

Sunchokes: Chili-Lime Sunchoke Salsa; Cabbage & Sunchoke Pizza

Kohlrabi: Quick Kohlrabi Kim Chi Salad; Kohlrabi & Cabbage  Slaw; Cider-Braised Kohlrabi

Parsnips: Roast Parsnips with Chili Maple Butter

Scarlet Turnips:  Chicken Pot Pie (see below);  Cornish Pasty (Meat Hand-Pies) (see below)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Did you stick with the familiar traditional foods or did you try some new recipes? We’re entering into our final month of the year, the cold has set in and the snow is flying.  Doesn’t it make you want to hunker down and cook comfort food?! 

Lets kick off this week’s cooking adventure with two traditional recipes for winter comfort food that will make use of the sweet scarlet turnips which are this week’s featured vegetable.  The first recipe is my version of a Chicken Pot Pie (see below).  While I usually make pot pie with chicken, you could also turn this into a vegetarian dish by omitting the chicken and using vegetable stock.  Pot pies usually have a pie crust topping, but I’ve never been a fan of that so I always make mine with a crispy biscuit topping that includes a little cheddar cheese.  This is hearty enough for a full meal, so we generally just eat it for dinner with a little bit of cranberry jelly on the side to complement the rich, creamy gravy.  The second featured recipe this week is for Cornish Pasties (pronounced past-E) (see below).  These are kind of like the original hot pocket and are a traditional food of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula thanks to the Cornish miners who immigrated there in the 1800’s.  Pasties are one of their national dishes and they took them with them for lunch when they were working down in the mines.  They generally consist of some kind of beef and/or pork along with potatoes, rutabagas or turnips, carrots, onions and in modern versions there may be some dried herb and garlic.  They have a flaky, crispy, buttery pastry that encloses a hearty filling.  They are sturdy enough that you can hold them in your hand and they reheat well.  In one source, I read that they would sometimes cut the initials into each one of the person who was intended to eat it so they didn’t get them confused!  In the original recipes, the pasties are quite large which makes sense for a hardworking man.  In the recipe below, I offer the suggestion to make them half of the original size, which I find to be a more manageable size for those with a smaller appetite.

Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter & Rice

Moving on, I’m going to tackle the mysterious black Spanish radishes next.  Earlier in the spring I featured a recipe for Roasted Black Radishes with Brown Butter & Rice.  My original recipe was written for spring cooking and included chives.  You can omit them since they are out of season!  If you taste the black Spanish radish raw and think it’s too strong for your tastes, give this recipe a try.  The black radish will mellow out when it is roasted. 

Chili-Lime Sunchoke Salsa with Pan-Roasted Salmon

This week we have another root vegetable that may be less familiar to some and may be mistaken for a piece of ginger.  This vegetable is the sunchoke, otherwise known as a Jerusalem artichoke.  I will forewarn you if you’re trying them for the first time, they contain inulin.  Inulin is a non-digestible fiber that is really good for our bodies as they feed prebiotic bacteria in our colon and help to maintain our digestive health.  It is best to eat them in small quantities at first as some may have a bit of digestive discomfort if they eat too much.  I recommend making this Chili-Lime Sunchoke Salsa which is great on pan-roasted salmon or as a topping for tacos.  Another great recipe that is fitting for this week’s box is this Cabbage & Sunchoke Pizza.

You should be able to get possibly several meals out of the head of cabbage in your box.  In addition to the pizza, use some of your cabbage to make this simple Kohlrabi & Cabbage Slaw or try this recipe for Cabbage Pad Thai with Tofu.

Festival Squash with Kale & Sausage
Photo from epicurious.com

This recipe for Festival Squash with Kale & Sausage was shared by a member in our Facebook group.  If you don’t have any kale or collards hiding in your refrigerator, try substituting green savoy cabbage for the kale.  The original recipe calls for acorn squash, but the festival squash in this week’s box is an acceptable substitute.  Some boxes this week will also receive spaghetti squash.  I want to try this recipe for Spaghetti Squash Fritters.  As with most fritters, we’ll probably eat them with a little scoop of sour cream and they’ll probably go with either a quick seared pork chop or maybe a burger!

I love roasted garlic and am anxious to try this recipe for Roasted Garlic Hummus. This will make for a quick lunch spread on a piece of toast or a bagel or simply served with slices of raw carrot and kohlrabi.

We’re going to give onions center stage this week with this recipe for Jamie Oliver’s World’s Best Baked Onions or this creamier recipe for Creamed Onion Gratin.   Either recipe could serve as a side dish along with roast beef or chicken or make it a main dish with a salad on the side.

Quick Kohlrabi Kim Chi Salad
Photo from JeanettesHealthyLiving.com

As with your cabbage, you’ll also likely get several meals from the kohlrabi.  In addition to the Kohlrabi & Cabbage Slaw mentioned above, you could use kohlrabi to make this Quick Kohlrabi Kim Chi Salad or try cooking kohlrabi with this recipe for Cider-Braised Kohlrabi.

This week is the last week we’ll be including parsnips in the share.  I always tend to keep it simple when preparing parsnips and roasting is my favorite method, such as in this recipe for Roast Parsnips with Chili Maple Butter.

I’ve saved the orange vegetables for last and am anxious to try this recipe for Thai Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup with Curry Roasted Cashews.  I also want to try this recipe for  Raw Carrot Pasta with Ginger Lime Peanut Sauce.   If you have a spiralizer, you can use it to make carrot noodles, or you can just simply make long ribbons of carrot with a vegetable peeler. 

That’s it for this week.  Stay warm and I’ll see you back here in two weeks for our final box of the 2018 CSA season!

Featured Vegetable: Storage Turnips

Scarlet Turnips

Friends, it’s that time of year.  We’ll be ushering in the first day of December before the week is finished.  We are officially done harvesting vegetables, but this week’s box is still brimming with abundance as we pull from our stores of roots, cabbage, alliums, squash, etc.  We plan for this time of year and make sure we have plenty of vegetables stashed away when the snow starts to fly.  This is a new season of local fare and this week I want to turn our attention to the humble storage turnip.  Some vegetables seem to scream “Look at me!” while others, such as turnips, seem to hang out in the shadows.  But turnips are an important part of our winter diet and deserve a mention.  They are much different from the tender, mild baby white salad turnips we grow in the spring and early fall.  Storage turnips are much more dense and have a stronger flavor.  They also have the ability to store for months (literally!) in cold storage.  We grow three different colors of storage turnips including the classic and familiar purple top turnips, golden turnips, and the hot pink sweet scarlet turnips included in this week’s box. Purple top turnips have the strongest turnip flavor while golden and sweet scarlet turnips are more mild.  Golden & sweet scarlet turnips are our two preferred varieties, which is why we’ve chosen them for your last two boxes of the season!

Yes, we realize turnips are sometimes a challenging vegetable for CSA members to embrace.  I’ve heard longtime members say “I can conquer everything in the box, but those late season turnips are a challenge for me!”  Most likely this stems from a bad experience early in life.  Perhaps overcooked turnips or canned turnips.  Turnips are part of the Brassica family and, like many other vegetables in this family, it’s important not to overcook them thereby releasing those strong sulfur compounds that can be strong and unpleasant.  I hope you’ll approach turnips with an open mind this year as they have a lot of great health and culinary qualities and can be used in a wide variety of ways throughout the winter. 

Turnips are seldom a featured vegetable in a meal, rather they play their greatest role by hanging out in the shadows of your culinary creations.  If you’re still learning how to use and appreciate turnips, use them in recipes where they are combined with other ingredients as opposed to being cooked on their own.  Turnips pair well with apples, cheese, cider, cream, garlic, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, and lemon as well as other root vegetables, bacon, ham and roast beef.  They make a delicious addition to winter soups, stews, root vegetable gratins, root mash and pot pies.  Turnips are also a great vegetable to use in a winter stir-fry, or pickle them and use them as a condiment for sandwiches or alongside rich meats, etc. 

Apple & Turnip Quiche

If you’re looking for a recipe and not sure where to start, I’d like to suggest the recipe in this week’s newsletter for Chicken Pot Pie (see below--may also be adapted to be vegetarian).  My other all-time favorite recipe utilizing turnips is the Birchwood Café’s recipe for Apple & Turnip Quiche.  I serve this frequently during the winter.  Richard also likes this simple one-pan recipe for Pan Seared Pork Chops with Turnips, Apples & Cider Cream Sauce and if you really like the flavor of turnips and want to give it more of the center-stage, try Roasted Turnip Ganoush. 

Turnips should be stored in a plastic bag or container in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.  I seldom peel turnips, however if you find their flavor to be more pungent than your liking, peeling may help decrease some of the characteristic turnip bite.  Also, with extended time in storage you may find some turnips may develop some browning due to oxidation or some surface scarring, which is sometimes a reason to peel the turnip.  The defect is often only on the surface and the rest of the turnip is totally usable.  If your turnips start to dehydrate a little bit in storage, either re-hydrate them in a bowl of cold water in the refrigerator or cut them up and put them in a stew or soup.

We hope you’ll choose to embrace turnips this year and try some new and different ways to prepare them!

Cornish Pasties (Meat Hand Pies)

Yield:  6 large or 12 small pasties

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough
1 cup butter or shortening
Salt, to taste
1 cup cold ice water
12 ounces ground beef (uncooked)
½ cup carrot, small dice
½ cup turnip or rutabaga, small dice
½ cup parsnips, small dice
½ cup potato, small dice
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper
1 large egg, beaten

1. For the pastry:  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.  Cut in the butter or shortening using a fork or pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add half the water and stir gently with a fork.  Add the remaining water and bring together the dough into a large ball.  Flatten into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.  In a large bowl, combine beef, small diced vegetables, thyme and season with salt and pepper.  Thoroughly  mix to combine and set aside.
3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into 6 even pieces (if making large pasties), or 12 pieces (if making small pasties).  Flour a work surface and roll out each ball of dough into an 8-inch circle (for large pasties).  Put about ¾ cup filling on one side of the circle of dough.  Fold the dough over to cover the mixture and crimp the edges to seal the pasty.  You may flute or gently roll the edges for a decorative touch.  Carefully lift the pasty onto a baking sheet (lined with parchment for convenience if you wish).  Repeat with remaining pasties.
4. Brush the pasties with the egg wash using a pastry brush.  Cut 3 small slits in the top of each pastry to prevent steam from building up and splitting the dough.  Bake for 1 hour until the crust is golden brown and flaky and the filling is firm and thoroughly cooked.  Serve warm, with ketchup or brown gravy if you like.
5. If you have leftovers, wrap in foil and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze in an airtight container for up to 2 months.  You can reheat these in a 350°F oven.

This recipe was adapted from a recipe for Michigan Pasty found at cookingchanneltv.com and a recipe for Cornish Pasties found at kingarthurflour.com.

Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping

Yield:  4 servings

½ cup diced onion

1 clove garlic, minced

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided

¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour

2 pints chicken stock

½ tsp dried thyme

2 ½ cups root vegetables (turnip, carrot, parsnip, celeriac, rutabaga), medium dice

8 ounces cooked chicken, diced

Sea Salt, to taste

Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Biscuit Topping (See Recipe Below)

1. In a small sauce pot, melt 2 Tbsp of butter.  Sweat onion and garlic in butter until softened.  Add the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter and melt.  Stir in whole wheat pastry flour to make a roux.  Gradually add chicken stock, stirring constantly to combine.  Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to keep from scorching the bottom of the pot.
2. Add thyme, diced vegetables and season with salt and pepper.  Simmer for another 10 minutes.  Stir in chicken and pour into an 8 x 8 inch baking dish.  Drop spoonfuls of biscuit dough evenly on top of filling.  Bake in a 400°F oven for 35-40 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Biscuit Topping

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

2 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese

3 Tbsp unsalted cold butter

½ cup buttermilk

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper.  Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.  
2. Add cheese and toss to coat.  Add buttermilk and stir to combine.  Mixture should be stiff.

Recipe by Chef Andrea Yoder, Harmony Valley Farm

Fall is Here!

We started harvesting sunchokes earlier this week

This Friday marks the official transition from summer to fall and on Sunday, September 24^th, we’ll celebrate this year’s harvests with our annual Harvest Party shin-dig.  We’ve been talking about this seasonal transition now for several weeks as things have started to change in our fields.  This week however we are feeling it more than ever.  We’re harvesting purple top and sweet scarlet turnips, sunchokes, daikon radish, fall carrots and we will be packing Soup Mix before the week is finished!  The leaves are starting to change colors, hickory nuts are dropping to the ground, and we know it’s just a matter of time before we get our first chilly, frosty night.  We hope you are planning to attend the party this weekend so you can see our valley and fall crops for yourself!

Honeynut butternut squash curing in the greenhouse

A lot has been happening in our fields over the past few weeks, so we wanted to catch you up on our activities with a field report.  We said goodbye to watermelons, melons, zucchini and cucumbers over the past few weeks, but there were more crops entering the stage as these summer favorites dwindled.  We are nearly done with winter squash harvest.  We have harvested and cured most of our winter squash and will go back to harvest the last few loads remaining in the field before the end of the week.  We’re planning to start packing winter squash in your boxes possibly as early as next week.

Our first planting of tomatoes is nearly finished, but the second planting still looks pretty good and continues to produce.  We have been having pretty cool days and nights, so the tomatoes have been ripening slowly.  We’ll keep picking right up until the first frost.  We’ve also been hitting our pepper field pretty hard with harvests.  There isn’t a whole lot remaining at this point.  Our orange Ukraine plants are pretty much done.  They produced a lot for us, but there isn’t much remaining on them.  The Orange Italian Frying peppers are still producing and we’ll be able to pick for this week and next, but I’m not sure how much will remain beyond that.  We’re planning to deliver mini-sweet peppers in next week’s box, but these plants don’t have a lot of fruit remaining on them. 

Celeriac with green tops freshly washed!

This week’s featured vegetable, celeriac, comes to you with its green top still on.  This is another sign of the transition point in the season.  While we’re still harvesting them as green top, we’ve already started to mechanically harvest these roots for storage.  They’ll all need to be harvested within the next few weeks as they will not tolerate more than a touch of a frost.  This marks our transition in cooking as well.  Soon we’ll all be enjoying more root-focused soups, stews and braised dishes to warm us up on the cold days. 

 Scarlet & Purple Top Turnips harvested last Saturday

There are some vegetables that make their appearance in the spring and then return in the fall.  Fall is a special time in many ways for some of these crops as the cool fall days and nights help to intensify the colors of vegetables and the flavors of some things mellow out and are sweeter.  We’re harvesting a beautiful crop of fall fennel right now and just started harvesting our fall crop of baby white turnips.  Next week we’ll be resuming baby spinach and salad mix harvest.  The color on these crops is always very impressive this time of year.  The green colors of spinach are more intense and the red lettuces are stunningly gorgeous! 

At the farmers’ market we’ve already been getting inquiries of “When will Brussels sprouts be ready?” Well, they are making sprouts and looking pretty good, but this is one of the brassica crops that benefits from a few frosty nights before harvesting.  All brassicas undergo changes in flavor in cold weather.  Their flavor becomes more sweet and well-balanced.  So the best estimate I can give you for when we’ll harvest them is after it frosts.  We also have our eye on the sweet potatoes and will be harvesting those before too long.  We’ll have to do a sample dig at the party this weekend to check the progress in growth and gauge just how much longer it will be before we’re ready to pull the trigger and do the big harvest! 

Jicama, sweet potatoes, squash and more coming soon!

Newly planted escarole and radicchio plants

Next week we’ll be delivering jicama in the boxes.  It’s in the process of being cured right now to set the tender skins.  This year’s crop looks pretty good!  We’re still learning how to grow jicama but I think we’re making progress!  We did harvest some that don’t look so pretty.  If you come to the party on Saturday, we’ll share those with you.  They don’t look good but they are still good to eat!  We also have a crop of tat soi slated for a late season harvest and we’re trying a new growing method for some late season chicories.  This week Scott, Simon and Jose Antonio finished planting escarole and radicchio transplants in our cold frame greenhouse.  We did a pretty good job of growing head lettuce in the cold frame greenhouse this spring and delivered it in the May boxes.  We’ve never grown escarole and radicchio in a greenhouse, but thought we’d give it a try and hopefully they’ll be ready for some of the last boxes of the season in November and December.  They are more cold hardy greens that can take cold weather and frosty nights and their flavor actually improves in cold weather.  In the field they can sometimes get damaged when the nights get really cold, so we’re hoping the more protected environment of the greenhouse will allow us to get the benefit of the cold weather but gain the protection from deep frosts.  Wish us luck!

In addition to harvesting crops,  we’ve also managed to stay on top of planting cover crops.  As we finish harvesting a field, we move right into preparing it for  winter and includes establishing a cover crop.  Did you read last week’s newsletter regarding the importance of regenerative farming methods related to mitigating climate change?  Well, we’re trying to do our part by getting cover crops on bare ground so they can capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soil.  How cool is that?!  We’ve also finished putting up stored hay for our animals to eat this winter and we’ve returned to some of our woods management projects.  The high winds we had in July along with the rains took the tops off of a lot of our trees in the woods. We’ve been scouting the woods identifying where the damaged and downed trees are.  We’ll focus on salvaging what we can this fall.

Despite the challenges of the July weather event, we’re gearing up for a bountiful fall harvest and we’re hoping Mother Nature will be cooperative!  There are still a lot of delicious vegetables remaining to experience this season as we continue our journey in our seasonal eating adventure.  I’m already starting to look forward to some favorite winter dishes such as Turnip-apple quiche, sweet potato casserole and rutabaga mash!  We hope to see you at the party this weekend and hope you enjoy the last few months of vegetables!

Vegetable Feature: The Many Colors of Storage Turnips

By Laurel Blomquist

Left: Purple Top Turnip / Right: Sweet Scarlet Turnip

     At Harmony Valley Farm, we grow several different varieties of storage turnips: gold, sweet scarlet and the more common purple top. Each can add a splash of color to your seasonal store of root vegetables this winter.
     Turnips have been cultivated for 4,000 years and probably originated in Middle or East Asia. There is evidence that they were grown for their seeds in India as early as the 15th century BC, and records exist of their cultivation in ancient Greece and Rome. They have served as an abundant winter crop for peasants when no other food was available, and also used as fodder for livestock during the long winter, when hay was scarce. Turnips are actually swollen stems fused with the root, and not just a root, as is commonly thought. The part that we eat is where the plant stores its energy that it would need to later produce seeds, if left to complete the full life cycle.
     Gold turnips can be traced to early 19th century Scotland, and were first patented in the United States in 1855 as “Robert’s Gold Ball.” The Scarlet turnip was introduced to the US in the 1890s by William Henry Maule as an improvement on a variety that originated in India. Purple Top turnips were introduced from France in 1852. The part that sits atop the soil line turns purple as it is exposed to sunlight.
      Storage turnips are dense and crisp with a sometimes spicy and pungent flavor when eaten raw. When they are cooked the flavor mellows and is mild and actually sweet. Gold and sweet scarlet turnips are our favorite turnips to eat as they are more mild than the traditional purple top turnip, which is the variety people are most often familiar with. Turnips harvested later in the fall after a few chilly nights are generally sweeter and have a more balanced flavor than those that are grown and harvested when it is warm or hot.

     Turnips are a very versatile root vegetable and may be eaten raw or cooked, although most often they are cooked. They can be stir-fried, steamed, boiled, braised, glazed, roasted or pickled. They also add a nice background flavor to soups, stews and braised meats. Storage turnips differ from the baby white salad turnips you received earlier in the season. They are meant for long storage and will keep for months if you store them in a cold, moist environment. Keep them in your refrigerator in a plastic bag. Sometimes when they are stored for longer periods of time they will start to get soft from moisture loss, but will firm up again when placed in a bowl of cold water. You can also use softer turnips in soups and you’ll never know the difference!
     Turnips are high in Vitamin C, minerals and dietary fiber, and are also low in calories. As a member of the brassica family, they contain cancer-fighting phytonutrients and antioxidants, an nice benefit to add to a winter diet. So enjoy your turnips and bring some color into your life during the cold, white winter.

Moroccan Turnip and Chickpea Braise

HVF Sweet Scarlet Turnip Harvest

Yield: 4 Servings

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut crosswise into ½-inch thick half-moons
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 pound turnips, peeled and cut into ¾ inch cubes
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 (14-15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
⅓ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. In a large, deep saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
2. Add the tomato paste, turnips, salt, cumin, and cayenne pepper and stir well. Add the chickpeas and broth, raise the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
3. Stir in the pepper and cilantro. Serve hot.

Author’s Note:“Serve this wintry braise over rice or couscous or alongside a simple main dish, like roasted chicken thighs... If you like a saucy braise, serve the dish as soon as it is ready. The turnips will absorb the liquid as the dish cools.”

Recipe borrowed from Laura B. Russell’s book 

Brassicas: Cooking the World’s Healthiest Vegetables.

Turnip "Risotto"

This recipe for Turnip “Risotto” was shared with us recently by a CSA member named Kristin.  If you are skeptical about cooking with turnips, consider what Kristin had to say: “I’m just writing to share a fantastic turnip recipe that we discovered. I’ve always had a hard time with turnips, never really finding a recipe that made them palatable to me (excluding salad turnips - those are delicious just as they are!). Then I came across this recipe, and it changed my whole world view on turnips.  We just tried it again last night with the beauty heart radishes that were languishing in our fridge, and it was delicious with those, too. Just sharing in case you are ever on the look out for a recipe to serve as a “turnip ambassador”.

Yield: 4 Servings

Photo Borrowed from seriouseats.com

6 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, cut into ⅛ inch dice
1 ½ pounds turnips, cut into ⅛ inch dice
2 cup hot chicken stock
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated
½ cup parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Warm the chicken stock in a sauce pan over medium-low heat.
2. Pour the olive oil into a large skillet and turn the heat to medium. Toss in the onion and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the turnips and cook for 2 minutes. Ladle in some of the hot chicken stock and cook until absorbed. Continue until all of the stock has been added, about 10 minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper.  Add the butter and grated cheese stir occasionally for a minute. Remove from the heat, garnish with parsley, and serve.

This recipe was featured on seriouseats.com, 

but Mario Batali is the original chef who created this recipe.

Vegetable Feature: Storage Turnips

by Sarah Janes Ugoretz

Scarlet Turnips in the field

Let’s face it—“exciting” isn’t an adjective that people typically use when they talk about turnips. Quite honestly, the way in which turnips are most often prepared—boiled and mashed—leaves a bit to be desired.  Like Brussels sprouts, overcooking them leaves you with a bitter, off-putting flavor. Recognizing this for the tragedy it is, we at Harmony Valley Farm want to set you and your turnips up for success during this winter season.

Turnips are a highly versatile culinary ingredient and an important part of a Midwestern seasonal diet. Storage turnips are hearty vegetables that are in it for the long haul. Place them in a plastic bag and they’ll hang out in your refrigerator for months on end…thus providing sustenance through the long winter months.  Purple top turnips are the traditional variety of turnips most people are familiar with. They have a distinct turnip flavor with crisp white flesh.  In the last vegetable box you received golden turnips.  These are a bit milder in flavor with gold skin and flesh.  This week we’re delivering our favorite storage turnip, sweet scarlet turnips.  They have a magenta-colored skin with white flesh often flecked with pink.  They are the mildest in turnip flavor and the sweetest.  The flavor of all storage turnips becomes milder, balanced and sweet when they are harvested later in the fall when the temperatures are colder and we’ve had some frost.  If you’ve had early harvested turnips….we can’t blame you for taking a pass on them, but please don’t write them off based on that one experience.

Scarlet & Purple Top Turnips

Turnips can be used in a variety of ways.  They can be included with a mix of root vegetables to make a delicious roasted vegetable medley or root mash.  Sweet scarlet turnips are a beautiful addition to a winter stir-fry or are mild enough to be eaten raw with a simple dip.  Turnips can also be added to soups, stews and winter chowder.  Quite honestly, one of our favorite ways to eat them is often simply sautéed with butter.  If you want to take them a little further, you can also pickle them and ferment them making delicious and interesting condiments for winter fare.  We’ve included a few enticing recipes in this week’s newsletter, but if you’re searching for even more inspiration, check out TheKitchn’s Seasonal Cooking series on “Interesting Things to do with Turnips.”

You may not believe me when I tell you this, but turnips rival kale and Swiss chard in terms of the amounts of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants they offer the eater. So, abandon the boil and mash mentality and start getting better acquainted with your turnips this winter!

Roasted Turnip Ghanoush

Yield:  4 cups
2 lb. turnips
1 cup pitted dates
1 cup water
½ cup low-fat plain Greek yogurt
⅓ cup roasted tahini
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp minced garlic
Smoked paprika, 2-3 pinches*
2 tsp kosher or fine sea salt
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp finely minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
Pita bread, baked pita chips or crudités for serving
Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving*

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F.  Place the unpeeled turnips on a rimmed baking sheet and roast until very soft, 30 to 45 minutes. Transfer them to a heatproof bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let cool. The steam will make them easier to peel.
2. While the turnips are roasting, in a small saucepan, combine the dates and water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until the dates have softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and process until pureed. Set aside to cool. Measure ⅓ cup puree to use for the recipe. (Cover and refrigerate the remaining puree for another use. It will keep for up to 1 month.)
3. When the turnips are cool enough to handle, peel them and transfer to a food processor. Add the yogurt, date puree, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, a few pinches of paprika, salt and pepper and process until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil & the parsley. Serve immediately with pita bread, or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. (The dip can be prepared up to 1 day in advance, covered and refrigerated.)

Recipe borrowed from Roots by Diane Morgan.  The ingredients marked with an * were Andrea’s adaptations to the original recipe.  This recipe & cookbook were recommended by some longtime CSA members.  I was intrigued by the idea of using turnips to make a dip, and found this to be a quite tasty way to use a turnip!

Turnip and Carrot Kraut with Caraway

Yield:  2 ½ cups
1 lb. turnips, peeled and cut into large chunks
4 oz. carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 ½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp caraway seeds, toasted

1. Using the coarse holes on a box grater or food processor fitted with the coarse shredding disk, grate the turnips and carrots. Transfer the grated vegetables to a large glass container with straight sides, such as a 1 qt. glass measuring cup. Add the salt and toasted caraway seeds and toss to combine thoroughly. Place a glass or china plate on top of the mixture and press down firmly. Place a weight, such as a closed container filled with water, on top of the plate and press down to squeeze out the moisture that is released by the vegetables. Cover the container with a clean kitchen towel and place in a cool, dark place to ferment for 1 week.
2. Every day, press down on the plate to make sure the vegetables are submerged. The salt will continue to draw out moisture from the vegetables during fermentation, and pressing on the plate helps to extract the brine. The vegetables must be completely submerged for fermentation to occur and to avoid mold from developing on the surface. If mold does form, skim it off and discard it. (Don’t worry, the kraut is still safe to eat!)
3. After 1 week, the kraut will be tangy and ready to eat. If left to ferment for 2 weeks or more, it will continue to develop complex flavor. When you think the kraut has fermented long enough, you can store it in a covered container in the refrigerator and enjoy it for several weeks.

Recipe borrowed from Roots by Diane Morgan.

Vegetable Feature: Turnips

by Sarah Janes Ugoretz

Baby White Turnips

In Europe, turnips were once the vegetable of choice to throw at someone as an insult, and an eligible English maiden would present her suitor with a turnip when rejecting him. As you can see, our vegetable feature this week has certainly experienced its fair share of ups and downs over the course of history. A great degree of this unfortunate reputation can be attributed to the fact that turnips were (and still are, though to a lesser extent) often used as livestock fodder and were thus prone to being viewed as unfit for human consumption. Fortunately, turnips seem to be making their way back into the good graces of consumers, though we at Harmony Valley Farm have loved them all along! With the arrival of fall and knowing that colder days are just around the corner, now’s the perfect time to get acquainted with this wonderful, versatile veggie.

As members of the mustard family, you may hear turnips referred to as Brassicas—a classification they share with cabbage, kohlrabi and cauliflower, to name just a few. Turnips are what we call a cool-weather crop, in that they do best in the chillier days of spring and with the nearing of fall, when we see a drop in the nighttime temperatures. We grow two different classes of turnips. The baby white turnips in your box this week are classified as a salad turnip and are planted early in the spring and again in the fall. These pristine beauties are more similar in size to radishes and have a sweet, mild flavor and tender texture. They are harvested with their green tops which are also edible. The greens are quite nutritious and are a good source of vitamins A, K, and C. The greens can be eaten raw or lightly sautéed. Baby white turnips are meant to be eaten within a week or so after you receive them and are not meant to be stored.

Our second class of turnips, on the other hand, are grown for their storage potential. These include the common purple top turnip as well as two of our favorite varieties—Golden & Sweet Scarlet. The latter two are characterized not only by their colorful skin, but they are also more mild & sweeter in flavor than the traditional purple top turnips. Storage turnips are very dense and have a thicker skin making them better for storage throughout the fall and well into the winter. During a time when eating seasonally was more a necessity than a choice, turnips were often a staple due to their ability to endure long-term storage. Today, the average household likely keeps turnips around for a week or two by storing them in the fridge. You can, however, make them last for up to six months if you store them correctly.

Scarlet Turnips

This week’s baby white turnips really just need a quick scrub to remove any residual dirt. Given their thin, tender skin, there is really no need to peel them. From here, you can eat them raw—sliced or grated into a salad. They can also be lightly cooked with a quick saute or stir-fry, gentle boiling or steaming, or you can even roast them. Storage turnips are a great addition to a hearty soup or stew. You can even mash them, just as you would potatoes. Hold onto this information and refer to it in November and December when we include storage turnips in your box.

Quick Stir-Fried Celery & Turnips

Recipe by Andrea Yoder

Serves 3-4
2 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
1-2 dried red chiles
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced thinly
1½ cups celery, sliced thinly
4-6 baby white turnips, medium diced
2 Tbsp soy sauce

1. Heat a wok, cast-iron skillet or a sauté pan over high heat. Make sure all of your ingredients are ready before you start to cook.

2. Add 1 Tbsp of oil to the hot pan and add the dried chiles. It’s best to tear or cut the chiles open. The quantity of peppers will be based on your heat tolerance.

3. Stir the chiles to keep them moving so they get toasted, but not burned. After about 45 seconds, add the garlic and continue to move the garlic to keep it from burning.

4. Immediately follow the garlic with the mushrooms and continue to stir-fry until the mushrooms are softened. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil along with the celery and turnips. Stir-fry for several minutes or until the vegetables are tender, yet still crispy. Turn off the heat and add the soy sauce. Stir to combine the soy sauce with all the vegetables. Serve immediately. 

**Note: This is an incredibly simple preparation that is a delicious accompaniment to meals such as teriyaki beef with steamed rice or hoisin chicken and rice.

Roasted Squash with Turnips, Apples & Caramelized Onions

Recipe by Andrea Yoder

Serves 3-4 
2 cups winter squash, medium dice
6 tsp sunflower or olive oil, divided
Salt & Pepper, to taste
2 medium apples, medium dice
4-6 baby white turnips, medium dice
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp salt
4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp butter or coconut oil

⅓-½ cup toasted squash seeds or chopped hazelnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a medium baking dish, toss winter squash with 2 tsp of oil. Season with salt and pepper and place in the oven. Roast for 15-20 minutes, then add the apples and white turnips along with 2 tsp more oil. Stir to combine the vegetables and return to the oven. Continue to roast the vegetables for an additional 30-40 minutes or until the apples and vegetables are soft, tender and lightly browned.

2. While the vegetables are roasting, heat a medium sauté pan on the stove top over medium-low heat. Add 2 tsp oil, onions, fennel seeds, dried thyme and ½ tsp salt. Cook over low heat for about 20-25 minutes or until the onions are soft and a light brown in color. You will need to stir them frequently and adjust the heat in order to caramelize them and not fry them.

3. Once the onions are caramelized, remove the pan from the heat and immediately add the apple cider vinegar. Add the butter and let it melt in the warm pan. Stir to combine everything and then set aside.

4. Once the vegetables are roasted, remove the pan from the oven and stir the onions into the hot vegetables. Put in a serving bowl and top with toasted squash seeds or hazelnuts.