Are turnips the most miserable of all winter veg?

In trying to find value in the humble turnip, it's worth considering that they do, at least, exist: this means they must have some invaluable characteristics, otherwise market forces would surely have consigned them to history.

Are turnips the most miserable of all winter veg? Even Nigel Slater says he thought turnips were disgusting throughout his childhood: “A plate of hate” is how he remembers them served up at school.

They’re cold and hard and often small and bitter, far less versatile than our beloved potatoes and have nowhere near as unique a reputation as a brussel sprout, say, or a parsnip.

What’s more, in popular culture we associate them only with Baldrick: amusing and endearing as an oddity, yes, but not something you’d ever admit to being familiar with.

In trying to find value in the humble turnip, it’s worth considering that they do, at least, exist: this means they must have some invaluable characteristics, otherwise market forces would surely have consigned them to history.

Anyway, Slater steered clear of them, slightly guiltily, until he discovered that Elizabeth David cooked turnips with butter and caster sugar until the sauce is brown and sticky. He joined the turnip party, and also suggests cooking with butter and sherry; mashing with cream and butter; adding dill (few herbs seem to complement the awkward turnip); and adding some chopped bacon to baby turnips cooked in sugar.

Cooking time depends on the turnips’ age: slow-cook older veg in stews or bake with sugar and sherry; the younger ones can be grated raw into salads and seasoned with orange. Both go well with pork, rabbit and game.

If you like the sound of golden, sugar-glazed baby turnips, M&S have just started selling the first ‘Tiny Turnips’ on the high street. These are a big food trend in Japan and you don’t even have to bother peeling them.

If they didn’t look so dowdy, turnips would probably get superfood status, too. They only contain a third of the calories of potatoes and are a great source of vitamin C and folic acid, as well as potassium, manganese and lots of other nutrients.

But the main reason we eat so few of them now is we’re spoilt for choice with so much produce shipped from abroad. I never thought I’d advise emulating Baldrick, but it looks like the man was way ahead of his time with his love for local, seasonal food.