turnips, many turnips!!What do I do?

[freshfood]

Hey, all,
I planted turnips this year for one of our crops that we'd never tried before. The first planting was early in spring, a fair number of seeds didn't germinate,so on second planting, I planted a bit more thickly.

Well, every one of those seeds came up, so many that I wonder if I accidentally planted twice in the same row!

As a kid, my mom would but turnips sometimes, we'd eat them sliced, raw. I remember them being sweet and crisp and moderately juicy. Mine are like giant white radishes. The first planting is also dry and woody (for eating raw, anyway). The second planting is smaller probably from being so crowded, but jucier and more tender, but still spicy in flavor.

So now I have two questions:

Number one, does anyone know what type of turnip I might have gotten as a kid that was so tasty?

and Number two, what do I do with all these turnips that I just harvested in the course of thinning the row?

Thanks for any input!

 

[hoodat]

Hey, all,
I planted turnips this year for one of our crops that we'd never tried before. The first planting was early in spring, a fair number of seeds didn't germinate,so on second planting, I planted a bit more thickly.

Well, every one of those seeds came up, so many that I wonder if I accidentally planted twice in the same row!

As a kid, my mom would but turnips sometimes, we'd eat them sliced, raw. I remember them being sweet and crisp and moderately juicy. Mine are like giant white radishes. The first planting is also dry and woody (for eating raw, anyway). The second planting is smaller probably from being so crowded, but jucier and more tender, but still spicy in flavor.

So now I have two questions:

Number one, does anyone know what type of turnip I might have gotten as a kid that was so tasty?

and Number two, what do I do with all these turnips that I just harvested in the course of thinning the row?

Thanks for any input!

Sounds like the Japanese white turnip. Excellent choice. The mature ones (not yet woody) can be mashed and mixed with mashed potatos to give them a different flavor. Small ones can be pickled. I like the sweet and sour recipe best for that. Larger ones can be cut into strips and krauted like cabbage. The Japanese white cannot be stored over winter like the purple turnips.

 

[seedcorn]

One thing it could be, turnips are better as fall crop as when it gets hot, they turn woody as well as more bitter.