Sautéed Japanese (Hakurei) Turnips With Turnip Greens Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you eat Hakurei turnips? ›

Unlike other turnip varieties, hakurei do not need to be cooked. They have an even-textured density and the flavor pairs well with a variety of different food items. Eat them raw (just whole, or chopped/grated in salads), make a quick pickle, or cook with their greens to enhance their natural sweetness.

Baked, Boiled or Steamed. Use turnips any way you would use a potato, and then some. Try them baked or boiled in stews, soups and stir-fries, or lightly steamed with some butter, salt or lemon juice for flavor. homemade coleslaw.

Tokyo turnips or Japanese turnips are smaller and completely white, and can even be mistaken for radishes, although many casino players notice that they have a milder flavor. Though it's less common with the larger turnip varieties, Tokyo turnips are tasty raw- sliced in salads, or even pickled.

Some suggest soaking the greens in a little salty water. One turnip website from the United Kingdom notes that if you boil them, add a little sugar to tame the scent and add baking soda to reduce bitterness. Look for fresh turnips.

Wash leafy greens and turnips well of any sand. Peel turnips. (You can also leave the turnip skin on, as it's edible, in which case, just wash and scrub them extra well.)

Smaller turnips tend to be sweeter and less bitter, so start by selecting fresh, small, tender turnips and peeling them. Adding a little sugar to your turnips after cooking can also help to counteract any bitterness.

If you want to try a different cooking method, I tend to like turnip boiled and mashed. If the turnip is old (and likely bitter) you can add an apple. I've also read that you can stir in baking soda after the turnips have boiled to remove the bitterness. You would then need to rinse thoroughly.

Their surprisingly delicate, almost fruity flavor and crunchy texture accounts for their popularity. They're delicious raw, but if you can resist the urge to simply pop them in your mouth, try shaving them into salads or slaws along with thinly sliced apples or pears.

You can eat the leaves and stems of the Hakurei Turnip, so there is no waste. The leaves and stems of these veggies can be consumed raw mixed in a salad or cooked as in this Ginger Soy Hakurei Turnip recipe.

Turnip Facts

The name Hakurei means "white ray of light" in Japanese, referring to the turnip's bright white color. Turnips, not pumpkins, were used to carve the first Jack-o'-lanterns.

Why should avoid adding baking soda to green vegetables when cooking? ›

This is a bad practice, however, and you should avoid adding baking soda when boiling any type of vegetable. It has various unwelcome effects, such as softening the vegetable, altering the vegetable's flavor, destroying thiamine content, and hastening the loss of vitamin C.

Seasonings help reduce the greens' bitter taste. Some enjoy the bitterness but feel free to adjust the seasoning to suit your palate. About a half teaspoon of baking soda added to the broth 20 minutes before the cooking time also helps.

We got some surprising results. Baking soda does help green vegetables retain color, but it causes undesirable color changes in red cabbage—it turned blue. The science can be distilled to this: Adding baking soda to cooking water makes it slightly alkaline, which stabilizes the green color of chlorophyll.

Hakurei turnips are known as salad turnips because are wonderful raw, particularly in salads. They can also add a unique complement to crudité platters and a surprising yet tasty addition to sandwiches.

Turnips have a crisp, white inner flesh and a zesty, peppery flavor. People can eat them raw or cooked. However, roasting turnips tends to bring out their best flavors and qualities.

The bulb portion of turnips is a good source of vitamin C, and the greens contain folate, calcium and vitamin E. Large turnips were used to carve Jack-O-Lanterns prior to the pumpkin. The roots, stems and leaves of a turnip are all edible.