Turnips!

Yes - over the past two years I have not been able to find any e ither in the supermarkets or independent grocers. Why?

Depends what type of turnips you're talking about, I guess. Up here in Scotland, there's no shortage of neeps (swedes) but I've also seen the smaller turnips too.

All the major supermarkets according to my online check do sell turnips. I am lucky to get mine from my lovely local greengrocer who delivers to my home. Perhaps they are not such a popular vegetable these days although I do agree that they are great in a winter soup or stew/casserole. Hope you get lucky in finding some.

dalrymple23

Yes - over the past two years I have not been able to find any e ither in the supermarkets or independent grocers. Why?

Presumably they’re just not fashionable any more. Not that they ever really were - just a winter staple in the days before frozen peas and e.g. sugar snaps and green beans from Peru.

On a similar note, someone on MN asked not long ago, ‘Who on earth eats cabbage any more?’

I’m glad to say there were plenty of WTF?? replies!

I think turnips add a certain something to stews/soups and they are not as cloudy or thickening as swede. But appreciate both.
Food does go through fashion cycles.
Remember Bruschetta anyone? Can’t find them for love nor money..and set yoghurt(more like a mousse) all the rage for a bit ditto.

The age old question is turnips or swede? I think they are get mixed up, depending where one lives.
However, online, I’ve just seen a chap microwave a whole turnip - the purple skinned thing - unpeeled for half an hour. Then he just spooned the flesh out of the skin, already mashed and declared it buttery, but without the addition of butter.

I often buy turnips and swedes from Sainsbury’s with no problems. I thought small turnips were very popular with gourmet chefs - for a while anyway.

Not keen at all on turnips but love swede.

I had chicken with mashed carrots and turnips for dinner last night, I .love them,

25Avalon

I often buy turnips and swedes from Sainsbury’s with no problems. I thought small turnips were very popular with gourmet chefs - for a while anyway.

My very Francophile foodie BiL, who spends much of the year in Paris, turned up not long ago with a lot of very little baby turnips, which he just fried briefly. They were very nice!

In the Madrid Capital, I have been quite surprised to see turnips, parsnips and also fennel ..

This is relatively recent times for The Madrid Capital !!

I love fennel in my salads & also Minnestrone and adore parsnips with carrots in a cream soup and like turnips in my lentil stews as well.

Turnips are historically important. During the 18th century, they were used as animal feed during winter, so farmers no longer had to slaughter their livestock. They were critical to the introduction of the four field system of crop rotation.

More efficient food supply resulted in an increased population, which enabled the industrial revolution.

www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/the-vegetable-that-terrorized-romans-and-helped-industrialize-england

No, I really dislike turnips and swede. They used to feed it to the cows in the winter, probably still do, and the school milk used to taste of them. Ych a fi.

Turnips are still used for animal feed. A member of the exercise group I go to is a farmer and she brought in lots of monster turnips from the crop that they grow to feed their livestock over the winter. Other people took one or two to cook😀

I don't care for them but the horses will eat them...

No shortage of turnips or swedes here in SW France......
😘😉

Rarely buy turnips so haven't noticed if they are missing. We buy a lot of swedes though. Only really use turnips in stews occasionally.

There used to be little white turnips but I never see them now. Fewer proper veg shops. None near me.

We had turnip on Sunday.

Probably cattle feed ones, but nothing wrong with that.

From a local farmer, not a supermarket.

We used to grow turnips & kale for the cattle, wouldn't dream of eating them ourselves.
Our local supermarket does them, they're more expensive than swede but nicer I think. I roast or fry the baby ones, v nice.
We eat kale too, but I'm not keen.

Love turnips, especially raw (raw sprouts especially!) Tesco sold them last year, 59p each, bought several, bought a Swede too, 3 times the size, 69p.

We often have Swede but not Turnips and haven’t noticed them recently, we do have beetroot in the garden, this year it’s the golden variety, we roast them in the meat pan on Sunday

Ah, Haggis, Neeps and Tatties. Excellent warming meal served with a whisky sauce, or even a dram. Roll on Burns Night.

Sainsburys has turnips, just not in the small ones with a limited range of veg.

Seems like there are plenty in European supermarkets- so maybe the shortage here has something to do with Brexit?