Grandfather planted a turnip ...

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Few people remember that our ancestors called turnips, and not potatoes, the second bread. It was not for nothing that the people built up a fairy tale about turnips and in the last days of September they called them "repores": at that time they harvested root crops and sent them to carts in the carts.

Turnip was not the main vegetable crop: it ripens quickly, gives a good harvest (sometimes a pound root crop grows), it contains easily digestible proteins and carbohydrates, biologically active substances, vitamin C (up to 60 mg%) and carotene. It is well kept and can be eaten fresh all winter. Great pet food, so the ancient Greeks and Romans planted whole fields with turnips.

Until now, they say about the simplest thing: "it's easier than a steamed turnip." Today hardly anyone has tasted this dish, and before turnips were cooked only like that - it is really easy, and it turned out tasty, nutritious, without excess (compared to potatoes) of starch. At the same time, all useful substances were preserved, and most importantly, potassium, the loss of which during cooking can reach two-thirds. And if they cooked it, then “turnip” - a stew with malt or oatmeal, and valuable products did not disappear - passed into a decoction. They also made “repnik” - steamed turnips with boiled cereals, baked cakes with it.

Turnip has a diuretic, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect, stimulates appetite, improves bowel function. Turnip helps with coughing, chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, weakness of the heart muscle. In folk medicine, when frostbite is used, an ointment of grated turnip with goose fat is applied, and joint pain and aching bones will remove poultices from turnip broth with wine.

In the view of many, turnips are flat with a concave bottom, bright yellow or golden in color, with a smooth hard surface, for which the people called it "wax". But different varieties were grown in Russia: European - Milan violet-headed and Milan Redhead; Central Asian precocious green-yellow - Namangan and Samarkand local (in the north they often shoot each other); Central Russian - yellow with greenish and purple spots - Solovetskaya, Petrovsky Finnish, Petrovsky Norwegian, Salekhard, North Russian - Karelian and Grachevskaya.

Nowadays, three varieties are rounded everywhere: mid-season (60-80 days) traditional turnip Petrovskaya 1 with root crops of 100-150 g and two salad turnips - Geisha and Snow Maidenthat have edibles and tips and roots. The root crops of the latter are white, round, sweet and contain almost no mustard oils, which give Petrovskaya 1 a characteristic sharp taste and smell. For this they are called "earthen apples." Young leaves are juicy, tender, unrefined, contain up to 90 mg% vitamin C, 30 mg% carotenoids and are good as salad greens. Root vegetables of salad turnip are poorly stored, but in the winter greenhouse it can be sown since February.

Turnip is from the Cabbage family, and it can not be placed after radish, radish, daikon, cabbage (they have common pests and diseases), and better after potatoes, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, onions and tomatoes. Although turnip is an undemanding culture, fertile, light loamy, structural soil is better for it. On heavy soils it is sick, grows poorly, gives bitter and tasteless root crops. With a lack of boron (for example, on sandy soils), voids appear in root crops.

Advantages of turnips - cold resistance and resistance to bloom. Usually it is sown in two periods - early in spring and in mid-July (for winter storage). It is better to do this under a marker: it will provide a uniform plant density and a seed placement depth of -1-1.5 cm. Seed consumption is -0.2 g per square meter, sowing pattern is 5 × 30-40 cm. You can sow in autumn when the ground grabs frost, but increase the seeding rate by 1.5 times.

In spring, in warm soil, seedlings will appear in three days. At this time, the main thing is to protect the delicate leaves from the cruciferous flea, especially in hot, dry weather. Without waiting for the mass development of the pest, pollinate the plants with ash, in extreme cases, sprinkle with an actellic or phytoerm. And, of course, water well, loosen the soil, remove weeds. As soon as root crops begin to emerge, germinate: in thickened plantings there will not be a good harvest, as agronomists say, root crops “run off” - they grow small and ugly.

Turnip should form before the first frost, otherwise it will be bitter and hollow. When harvesting the tops, cut so that there are stalks no longer than 2 cm long, and do not touch the roots. If the landing is in cold weather, wait for the thaw, let it “move away” and only then dig.

Store turnips in plastic bags with small openings at a humidity of 98% and a temperature of 2 °. It lies until spring, but the flesh will gradually become loose, the taste worsens.

Sorry, but many do not know how to cook turnips.

For salad, grate carrots and turnips, add chopped parsley and salad turnips and season with butter or sour cream. We recommend tasting stuffed turnips. Peel the root crop, boil, remove the pulp with a spoon, rub it with butter, egg yolks, cream and mix with raisins. Fill the turnips with the prepared mass, bake in the oven.

Author: V. Startsev, breeder.