Turnips. What is it: a forage turnip or a useful product?

In different historical epochs on the table served dishes from products that were not known before or were forgotten after. A vivid example of the first is potato: for decades, this plant only aroused suspicion and mistrust, and then became a familiar ingredient in daily dishes. As for the second, here you can call turnips and turnips. At one time, without them, not one table (not only common people, but also very high-ranking people) did not manage. Nowadays, the turnip is remembered mainly in the fairy tale for the youngest children. What can we say about such a plant as turnips? "What is this?" - will ask, perhaps, 90% of the population. And yet these root crops are completely forgotten unjustly!

Close relatives

You can say about the same turnips, that this is the kinswoman of not only the abandoned turnips, but also the beetroot or radish favorite to this day. And with leafy cabbage, he is able to have "children" who received the name of the swede. Which, however, now, too, few people in our country know that their appearance, that its inherent taste. But, for example, Scandinavian, Swiss and German farmers willingly cultivate it, and housewives in these countries spoil their household with various dishes from the forgotten by us rutabaga.

Useful properties of the despised root

Everyone knows that many vegetables and fruits are a storehouse of vitamins, and consequently, health. The same applies to such root crops as turnips. What does it mean? And the fact that the mentioned fruit is very rich in useful substances. Among them, the most important is vitamin K, which is responsible for blood coagulability. However, those who are very interested in it will have to pay attention to the tops: it is in it that most of it is contained.

In the root crop contains vitamins C and A and the most valuable folic acid, so necessary for the formation of red blood cells. And all this on such a scale that the product in question will need only 70 grams to make up for the daily consumption of these compounds. For comparison: in order to get the same amount of vitamin C, radishes will have to consume at least 200 grams, and it is much to the taste!

Still it is possible to tell or say about turnips, what is it a preventive "grater" for an intestine. There are a lot of coarse fibers in it, which are digested; So that, passing through our digestive system, they cleanse everything "stagnant" and stimulate the digestive system to work more intensively.

The right choice and competent storage

If you do not grow your own roots, but buy it in the market or in a store - you can choose. It is better to buy a young vegetable - it is easy to determine by a thinner skin. From all that you are offered, choose a hard and not cracked specimen, on which there are no wounds and defects. It is desirable that the tops are green and fresh. And most importantly - do not mix it with the radish! The easiest way to determine that before you is turnips (we study the photo carefully!) On a white-lilac peel - the radish is not.

It remains to learn how to properly store vegetables. The plant, if you are going to use it, you need to cut it off, put it in water (like flowers) and put it on the door of the refrigerator. The vegetable itself should be washed, dried and stored in a cool and dry place.

Delicious use

They eat fodder turnips mostly fresh - in salads it is simply delicious! To the result you are pleased, roll the vegetable before adding to the dish with boiling water, and fill the salad with a little lemon juice - it miraculously combines with this root, reveals its taste. For example, a composition of turnips, leaf lettuce, parsley, cranberries and a green sweet and sour apple will be wonderful.

Want to get a healthy turnip? Observe the rules!

However, not every store will find a fresh turnip. Cultivation in this case remains the only way out. Especially if you have a nearby villa site. The culture itself is resistant to colds, not pampered, loves water, but does not require it too much. Seeds are sown in early spring, barely dry soil. Cool summer is not an obstacle for getting a smart harvest. Turnips quite fit the areas where beans, cucumbers, onions, winter crops or tomatoes used to grow, that is, it is very flexible in regard to seedling.

So, if you have livestock (sheep, goats), turnips will become a reliable assistant in your support. And if not - grow it a little, for your table. And you will not regret!