What Do Turnips Taste Like & How To Use Them?

If you are an advocate for healthy eating, then you would love turnips. Turnips are vegetables that possess a lot of nutrients that aid the body’s metabolism. They are fresh and when cooked right, they taste like heaven.

What are turnips?

Turnips fit in the Brassica family, along with broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. Round and white throughout, turnips have crunchy white flesh with a cabbage-like taste when eaten raw.

What do turnips taste like?

Turnips have been in existence for centuries and the taste is largely reliant on how you eat them. If you eat it raw, you will get a slight sweetness with a mild zesty taste. But when cooked, it tastes sweet and nutty.

Turnip benefits

Turnips offer a wide range of benefits. They provide nutrients that strengthen you and provide you with a healthy diet.

Turnips comprise vitamin C, carbohydrates, vitamin B6, beta-carotene, folate (B9), and calcium.

They also contain high levels of potassium, iron, magnesium, and a lot of vitamin K, which helps build strong bones in the body.

Turnips are low in calories and aid in lowering blood cholesterol levels. They are high in dietary fiber, which is good for constipation and preventing colon cancer.

How do you cook turnips?

Just like any other root vegetable, the process in which to cook turnips is simple and easy. However, the cooking procedure largely depends on your menu.

Furthermore, you must remember to choose the right type of turnips and wash them properly to prevent them from changing the taste of your food.

Also, ensure the timing is accurate to evade overcooking or undercooking of turnips.

1. Honey-glazed radishes and turnips

Combine a chicken broth with sweet honey turnips sauce and toppings. This would turn the chicken mild and wonderful.

2. Pickled turnips

A turnip’s crisp texture and sweet flavor make for a great pickle. Halve smaller varieties like Tokyo turnips and submerge them in a white vinegar-based brine in the refrigerator for a week.

3. Pan-fried turnips

With just a mix of thyme and breadcrumbs, you can make your pan-fried turnips. It’s a very easy recipe and a crowd-pleaser at best.

4. Turnips and fried eggs

Looking to make something quick and fast yet tasty? If so, turnip hash topped with fried eggs is the go-to. All you need to do is fry small-diced turnips with fried eggs as an add-on.

5. Brown butter mashed turnip with roasted garlic

Mashed turnip with roasted garlic is a combination of striking dishes that mingles with roasted garlic to produce a delicate aroma.

One of the great benefits of this recipe is that it aids the digestive system and provides your body with the right supplements.

Due to the many flavors and ingredients, turnips would be a much better option in place of potatoes.

6. Salad turnips

Sliced like cabbage and thin like radishes, you can make your raw turnips into a salad. This is especially delicious when raw baby turnips are used and dished completely as a crudité platter.

7. Turnip fried rice

To make the turnip fried rice, you need to have your ginger, coconut aminos, carrots, eggs, and broccoli. This is a better substitute for traditional fried rice and is more nutritious with a lot of veggies.

8. Gratin dish

Arrange thin, alternating slices of turnip and potato in a gratin dish, making sure the sliced pieces are tightly fitted together. Drizzle with a little oil, salt, and pepper, and then pour over the stock to just cover the bottom evenly.

9. Steamed turnips

To preserve the natural sweetness of your turnip when eating with pasta or rice, steam your turnips with the right amount of seasoning and spices you want to give you the desired result.

10. Turnip Dhal

This is a 30-minute Indian recipe made of lentils and turnips.

11. Mashed turnips

Swap your mashed potatoes for sweet, mashed turnips in winter vegetable comfort food. What you need to do is switch your roasted turnips for your mashed potato recipe. Prepare the same way and enjoy an even richer taste.

Do turnips taste like swede?

Yellow or orange when cooked, swedes are a bit sweeter when compared to turnips. They are often bigger and longer in shape than turnips and are very easy to grow.

Do turnips taste like beets?

Beets and turnips are both root vegetables, but they are quite different. Beets are colored on the outside and inside with purple pigment. Turnips come in many colors and have a sweeter, spicier taste than beets.

Do turnips taste like radishes?

Not exactly. Although there have been comparisons between turnips and radishes in taste albeit they are quite different in a few ways than one.

The most popular opinion is that raw turnips taste like radishes but with a little bit of spice. However, cooked turnips taste sweeter.

Radishes are usually a bit spicy at first, but as they age, they become much hotter and harder to eat.

FAQs

Can you eat turnip leaf?

Yes, you can. Turnip leaves are edible. They are stringy and have a piquant flavor.

Can you eat raw turnips?

Yes, you can. Raw turnips make a wonderful plus to your salad, slaw shreds, and thin slices for your sandwiches.

Can you eat turnip skin?

Yes, you can. However, it’s not a popular choice. But the skin can sometimes prove difficult to remove using a standard vegetable peeler, and it also possesses a bitter taste that lingers, leaving an unpleasant feeling in your mouth.

Nevertheless, it should be young, and fresh out of the garden. The skin of such a turnip would be thin and enjoyable enough to eat without peeling it.

Using this method would be the best way to eat the skin if this is what you desire.

Does turnip taste like cabbage?

The taste of turnips is often compared to that of cabbage, but with a slightly sweeter flavor. Although raw turnips have a crisp and crunchy texture, cooked turnips tend to be softer and mushier.

What do baby turnips taste like?

Baby turnips taste divine. They have this tender, sweet, and peery stint to each bite and are much smaller than radishes.

Conclusion

With turnips, you are guaranteed a flavored diet with a bout of healthy nutrients. Turnips grow in the ground with white roots like cabbage, daikon, and carrot.

Furthermore, they become purple on the outside when boiled. Raw or cooked, it’s a mild-tasting vegetable that can be eaten alone or in soups. It’s also high in vitamins A, C, and B6.

Ever tried beets? I’ll recommend you start by learning about what they taste like.

Thank you for reading.

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