I planted turnips probably too early; they're ready now and I'm not sure what the easiest way to preserve them would be. I think it's too early in the season to put them on shelves in the basement. I'm wondering whether I should have planted them later, but my late summer crops never seem to go anywhere.
Turnip Culture and Preserving
Have you ever had them pickled? They are pretty good that way. Or you could roast them and then freeze that. They are excellent roasted.
I drop mine into a pot of boiling water to blanch them (about 1-2) minutes, then quickly plunge them into an ice water bath to stop them from cooking. Then, I seal them in gallon size freezer bags (I put them in one sealed bag, then seal that one inside another bag...) and freeze. When you cook them, they taste like fresh picked!
I do the same thing to my greens. Clean 'em, rough chop 'em, blanch and shock them. I use my large gumbo pot and do it in batches. By the time I mash a big batch down to the bottom of the boiling water and pull them back up, it's time to shock in the ice water 'cause they'll cook QUICK if you leave 'em in longer! The blanching preserves the coloring (brilliant, emerald green) and the fresh flavor. Then, I portion into the double-bagged freezer bags. Yum, yum!
Hmm, interesting idea, to roast and then freeze them. After I asked the question I found that one can cut them in chunks, blanch them for two minutes, cool them in ice water, and then freeze them like that. Roasting would be a nice idea, too. Pickling is kind of labor intensive; I might do that with some cucumbers if I have a good harvest, but I don't know if I'd bother for turnips.
I'm not sure if it's turnips or radishes that I've had pickled in kim chee.
Edited to say: Linda, we were typing at the same time. Why do you double-bag yours, though? One seems to work well for me for other veggies.
Greens seem like a lot of labor for very little result; I have some lovely Zamboni broccoli raab that I'm trying to decide what to do with. We may just eat it fresh, since it cooks down so much.
This message was edited Jun 23, 2010 8:52 PM