Author Topic: swedes (or turnip depending on where you live!) (Read 3760 times)

egglady · « **on:** July 06, 2011, 08:39:01 pm »

my friend Nicky gave me a pile of these the other day and, never having tasted one before, i wasnt sure how to cook them so the children would eat them.

so i peeled, and chopped them into potato sized chunks, heated some olive oil in the over, chucked the pieces in and tossed them in the hot oil, then brushed on some syrup (diluted a bit with hot water so it wasnt so thick) and popped them in the over for about 40 mins till they were crispy....

quite yummy if you dont mind me saying!!!

and might even grow a few myself now i know we like them!

thanks nicky

jaykay · « **Reply #1 on:** July 06, 2011, 08:54:45 pm »

Yellow flesh or white flesh? Here, the former are swedes and the latter turnips. I love swede mashed with butter and pepper. Turnips - I'd have to be pretty hungry

egglady · « **Reply #2 on:** July 06, 2011, 08:57:06 pm »

to me a turnip is yellow fleshed and you mash it with butter, salt and pepper....yum, yum. winter veg - great in soups too.

the white fleshed fella is (to me) a swede and i'd never even tasted one before today.......was surprised that after cooking it this way it was actuall tasty

Hermit · « **Reply #3 on:** July 06, 2011, 09:45:59 pm »

We always called the yellow flesh just turnip and the white flesh the purple turnip. Now they are swede and turnip. 'Swede' chips are a million times better than potato chips. Carrot and swede mash is my fav veg.

Sandy · « **Reply #4 on:** July 06, 2011, 10:01:53 pm »

Thats interesting, I call the yellow flesh one a swede and love them chopped with butter and pepper and carrots or mash spuds and Turnip a white flesh thats fine in stew a bit like parsnip but not so tastey. I worked in care and an elderly lady said she loved Swede and that its hard to cut and it is, so it is nice that you can get it chopped up for you, saved that knife slipping stuff on the hard ones!!!!! Yummmmmm

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #5 on:** July 07, 2011, 01:39:07 am »

I'm born and brought up in the midlands, so the yellow-fleshed purple-skinned hard-fleshed one is a swede and the white-fleshed one is a turnip.

Years ago I had a boyfriend from Orkney then Durham, he called the yellow-fleshed purple-skinned hard-fleshed ones 'neeps'.

I now live in the far north of england where they are all called turnips. We just sowed some for fodder, and the (south eastern) seed merchant calls them fodder beet!

I love the yellow-fleshed purple-skinned hard-fleshed ones steamed (best along with carrot and beetroot too), grated (with carrot & beetroot is good!) raw, just raw to munch on, roast (I just brush with oil & lemon, but the syrup does sound nice), mashed with carrot, in stews - I think I wouldn't have it in a sandwich but other than that I think it's pretty versatile!

The white-fleshed ones to me taste fresh bright and oniony and I love them in pretty much all the same ways except they seem to gain a bitterness if they are roasted. I like the subtle fresh onion-ness so much I think that raw and steamed are probably my favourite ways to eat these ones. I use them in soups, stocks and stews for a delicate onion flavour.

calamityjane · « **Reply #6 on:** September 05, 2011, 09:49:48 pm »

neeps is turnips great mashed with mashed tatties[potatoes] and haggis great in lentil soups or any soup don't put too much in as it can turn ur soups i like to steam mine over my potaoes great in casseroles too hope this helps you jane

lazybee · « **Reply #7 on:** September 07, 2011, 12:56:44 pm »

The real name for the yellow fleshed one is Swedish turnip obviously shortened to 'Swede' . So ............you're all correct It's just a different variety of the same thing

Maggie · « **Reply #8 on:** September 07, 2011, 01:13:49 pm »

As a Scot, with an English husband and three English sons..... we NEVER agree on this one.

I'd never set eyes on one of those tiny white "turnips" until I moved to England. In Scotland, we always called the big yellow fleshed ones turnips or shortened it to neeps. Makes sense. I couldn't be bothered with the wee ones, I've got enough peeling to do with the tatties, so it's always the big yellow turnip for me!

Penninehillbilly · « **Reply #9 on:** September 07, 2011, 01:25:30 pm »

in scotland what I would call a swede (yellow fleshed) were called neeps, we grew fields of them for the cattle in winter, my dad would never eat them, said they made your breath smell like cows when they'd been eating it

.
look at the ones in the supermarket, swedes are the ones often cut in half cos' their so big.
I find turnips (white fleshed) are stronger tasting, too strong for OH, we don't grow them.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #10 on:** September 07, 2011, 02:33:46 pm »

I hardly ever peel spuds. Just for mash, really, otherwise they are scrubbed and cooked (baked, roast, boiled, sauteed, sliced on top of a stew, wedges, diced - you name it) with their skins on. Mind, I only get organic spuds so there won't be any nasty chemicals in the skin.