“We raised great big turnips—people don’t raise turnips like they did then. Old people had great large turnips back then, and they had’em all the winter. Lot of times they’d have t’plow those old turnips up and push them aside to plant again in the spring. And my father went to th’field with a big basket [to gather the cast-aside turnips], and we’d put on pots of’em t’cook for the hogs. We used the same turnips for greens that we used for the turnips themselves.”
—Florence Brooks – “Foxfire 4”
My turnip greens are growing good so far. I’m hoping for some big turnips like Florence speaks of. Today’s Thankful November giveaway is a used copy of “Foxfire 4.” To be entered in the giveaway leave a comment on this post. *Giveaway ends Saturday November 13.
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Turnips ain’t bad raw. Just eat them like an apple. Cut the top off and wash them good.
I absolutely love cooked turnips! I’d sure love to have a big pot cooking today!
My mama didn’t like turnips or rutabagas so she never cooked them. I can only remember one time her having rutabagas on the table and all three of us kids gagging and crying and getting under Daddy’s skin because he loved them. Poor Daddy, don’t think she ever fixed him turnips. So, my second husband was a great cook and one of his specialities was carrots and rutabagas cooked and mashed together. Delish !!! Now to the turnip …….. I might just try buying one or two small ones and experimenting. All these folks have teased my interest in this maligned veggie.
My older daughter had the whole set of Foxfire but an ex-hubby destroyed them. It would be wonderful to share a book with her and let it be hers when I’m gone.
I look forward to reading the blog every morning right after my devotional. Great way to start the day.
I don’t eat turnip greens or cooked turnips but I do like them sliced paper thin in a salad or just with a little bit of salt. When I was a kid I would eat turnips like an apple I’d go to the branch and wash off the dirt, check for worms and go to town. To me cooking turnips is like cooking radishes. It just don’t work for me. I did try mashing some like mashed taters one time. It wasn’t too bad but taters are easier to make.
I hope I’m not too late with my comment. I remember my grandma used to bury turnips then dig them up to eat them. My brother love to eat them raw. For his birthday one year I fixed him a basket Of all kinds of vegetables and included some beautiful turnips. I really enjoy the Foxfire books and wouldn’t mind owning one. Thanks for your giveaways!
I love turnips. I love cooking, and how I loved my garden! It was huge. I really enjoy hearing and reading about all the ways of the hill people. They are very special and have a wealth of knowledge.
What is “firefox 4” I love purple tops and what we call Northern turnips (rut-a- begga). If we can we cook the tops and the roots of the northern turnips together. Purple tops I love raw as an evening snack with little salt. Salt is a no-no with my diet but it so enhances the flavor. By the way I love your music.
Nate-it’s a book you can see it here: https://www.foxfire.org/shop/foxfire-4/ So glad you enjoy our music!
The comments are almost as alive as yours posts and videos. Thanks for keeping this part of our history thriving.
I like turnips but my wife does not and she does the cooking so I don’t eat them very often!
I sure love reading what you write about the olden days.
And I love me some turnips n greens.
Let them simmer on top of the woodstove with some seasoning meat, and every time you come back in the house just the smell will warm you up. You know what’s waiting for you.
I love turnips. The greens and the root. I do not love peeling turnips. They are hard. But my dad shared a trick. He peels turnips with an apple peeler. It works great. Daddy’s a smart man. 🙂 I love him.
I’m thankful for my sweet daddy. Everyday.
My Mama cooked turnips and the greens together with a ham hock and the pot liqouer was so good with a pan of cornbread on the side oh the past time memory’s how precious and I would like the book #4 you are offering,thanks Tipper
Thankful Tuesday! A month of thankfulness is what this old world needs. Thank you, Tipper. I hope this catches on everywhere.
Turnips . . . My mother was an old-time excellent cook. She only ever used a recipe when trying some new exotic dish like Hungarian ghoulash. After the first batch, she would adjust the recipe to suit her and her nine kids then forget recipes. An older brother moved to Tennessee after college and lived mostly in East Tennessee. He raised a son and daughter there but made annual trips back to visit family in Raleigh. Once we were having dinner that included mashed turnips. My nephew, then a teenager and now the father of an about-to-be college graduate, had a good helping and ate them with relish. A few days later he was talking about how good those mashed potatoes were and told his mother to find out how his grandma cooked them. He was surprised to learn that he had eaten turnips and even more surprised that he liked them.
My wife had never eaten turnips and apparently had never seen her mother cook them. I grew some one year, harvested some and asked her to cook them for supper. I came in to eat and found she had sliced and fried them like potatoes. I ate them but I don’t want any more. There’s been a few dishes she has served and my comment was, “Let’s not try that recipe again.”
Every time I took turnips or greens to the senior pot luck I took my bowl home empty. Any they couldn’t eat there were taken away in carry out boxes.
Have already given away a bushel or more of purple tops, with many more yet to harvest. It pays to get your greens patch out early. Late August is the perfect time.
I am so happy I found your page and youtube channel. I am thankful for the abundance of knowledge and information. As far as turnips go…I like the greens but I am not a big fan of turnips. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving. God Bless you and yours. <3
My family when growing up would fight over who got the pot liquor from the turnip greens cooked. That is what we called the liquid that the turnip greens were cooked in the pot. To us that was the most delicious part of cooking the greens. We would take our skillet cooked cornbread and dip it into the pot liquor and thought we had died and went to heaven. Last year I visited my aunt who lived in another state. The first night of my visit she cooked a big pot of turnip greens and immediately when we both sat down she had a bowl of turnip green liquor with corn break on our plate. She had shared the pot liquor with me, which was a real honor. My aunt died awhile back, but I know turnip green pot liquor was waiting for her in heaven.
I love turnips raw or cooked. I eat all kinds of greens too.
Hubby loves turnips, eats them raw like apples. I’d love to have the Foxfire book, thanks.
I absolutely love turnips. I love them raw. I could eat one every day. They are good for you to. Very nutritious. When we grew our turnips, when they be ready, I have to pull a bunch up. Sometimes, I will just rub the dirt off and eat me one right there at the garden. I can’t wait , they are so good.
I like a raw turnip new and then. Cooked, no way. I’m told that after frost the greens lose their bitter flavor. Would like to try those, but mustard is my greens. Good raw in a salad, too.
I love your blog. I grew up in WA and HI but my grandpa had roots in Western NC. His folks were pioneers in WA Territory. Grandpa used to say he was “NC bred and WA born”. His mom was half Cherokee and a midwife. Grandpa was a fabulous veggie gardener and woodworker, and my Grandma knew where to forage for huckleberries, and how to can everything they grew. Thank you for your blog. I would love to win Foxfire 4!
I never developed a taste for turnips although they were available all of my life.
My mama loves turnips, funny story me and her went to the new craft store here in town and I parked next to the grass and across with the grass I saw this bunch of leaves and asked mom what it looked like she said oh that’s a turnip plant, go get it. So here I go across the grass and grab it and up pops a big ‘ol turnip! She cooked it that night.
Tell the Deer Hunter there ain”t noth”n like tak’n a raw turnip to the tree stand peel’n it with your favorite pocket knife, enjoying it while wait.n on the BIG BOY…
I live in western NC. My Grandpa Jackson lived here his entire life until he passed away in 1981. One time, years ago, he had his picture in the paper with a big turnip he grew. It was the biggest turnip ever grown & documented around our community, at the time. Turnips are good.
I love raw turnips; sometimes with a little sprinkle of salt.
This is very interesting. My hillside neighbor was old school. Even my grandson referred to him as “joe on the hill.” He spoke of not being able to grow anything for the deer on the farm he moved from. He grew many old varieties, and we shared gardening tools, tips, and produce as long as he was able to garden. I would awaken to small sacks of produce all the time on my side stoop in the shade. In return I would send my grandson scurrying up to the hillside to take my neighbor excess peppers or anything I had an abundance of.
On the hillside below Joe’s house would be planted all kinds and types of of greens each Fall, and they would thrive under his masterful hand. One of the best crops was his huge crop of turnips. He would give me a call and tell me to come get all I wanted anytime I wanted. He would also dig the turnips and take them to distribute to other church members. Many folks I know do not eat turnips, so I hope those he gave away so willingly were well received. My favorite way of preparing was to peel and slice them like potatoes. Then in a cast iron pan sprayed with oil cook them very slowly and then when done turn up the heat, spray some more, and slightly brown. It was a meal fit for a king with a pan of cornbread. This was like weeks of turnips before the weather and soil was just right for him to plow for Summer crops. He always hired a man to plow his soil deep with a big tractor, then he would be out there going over every inch with his tiller. He used 10/10 /10 fertilizer the old way, and had the nicest crop of turnips that was the envy of the neighborhood. I sure miss those turnips. but much more I miss my dear neighbor as he used to be always out there on the hillside doing what he loved best. I laughed because I would take somebody out to show my garden, and their eyes would just naturally veer to that lush garden on the hillside. He saved his tomato seeds by marking a particular tomato on his vines. He would take them to the local greenhouse, and they would plant the seeds and give him new plants each year. Those old timers knew their stuff. When I count blessings I always have to count all the wonderful neighbors I have had throughout the years.
Thank you for bringing back a memory to me of my Mother and turnip greens. I can see her now enjoying them with her delicious fried cornbread! I look forward to your post every morning. I consider you and your family friends!! Take care and God bless.
My mother called them hanovers. She loved fixing them, as hard as they were to peel. We always felt a special dinner coming about when she brought them in from the cellar and I remember how sweet and delicious they were.
I was just looking at a bundle of fresh turnips in the grocery store yesterday and at that time stood there remembering how good they tasted when Mother cooked them with turnip greens. I love rutabagas, and collard greens too! About 20 some years ago, I bought a set of Foxfire books and gave them to my Father for Christmas one year. After reading how hogs were killed and put up and how syrup was made, etc., he said, “that is just how we did it.” I so appreciated the Fox Fire books!
not a fan of cooked turnips too much but love them raw…i’d love to have this book…its one i hadn’t been able to find at a price i could afford!!! always sit and read the blog first thing in the morning!!!
I have some of the biggest turnips this year, I have never had any this big in the last 20+ years of growing them, I fried a skillet full a couple days ago and they were delicious.
I have Foxfire 4 so you can skip me. But about turnips – I plant them mixed with mustard for winter greens but they have never done very well here. I like the turnips themselves OK but only raw and it is never something I get a hankering for.
I think the tradition of mustard, turnips, collards, etc is probably the result of two things. One is continuing garden production into, and through if possible, the winter months. The other is just for the health of having fresh food during the time when there is little fresh anything if one is depending on homegrown.
This might be a good time to ask a question. In “Mountain Path” there is mention of getting out early in the morning after a frost and getting the vines off the sweet potatoes before the sun comes up and ‘drives the frost into the potatoes’. I had never heard of that before. Has anybody else? I once hauled off and dumped 2 wheelbarrow loads of sweet potatoes because they had gotten too cold. I’m wondering if I had cut the vines off if they would have been OK.
My grandpa Mosier, who passed in ’73, used to keep turnip slices in a bowl of water in the fridge, something I still do to this day. My mom used to cut up a couple turnips in wedges and put them in with the potatoes and carrots when she put in a pot roast. They looked slightly different than the potatoes, kind of translucent. I always called them “ghost potatoes”. My favorite way of cooking them is cut in strips and sauteed in olive oil with red pepper strips and sliced green onions. Yum!
I love turnips and greens but not my husband. I love your “Grateful November” articles & I want to add that since I found you on YouTube, I am grateful that you have helped me fight depression from the news now. Instead of watching the news, I now watch your YouTube channel and read Blind Pig and the Acorn and have found a peace that soothes my soul. Thanks to you, Tipper, I am baking biscuits, tea cakes, & cornbread from scratch for the first time in almost 54 years of marriage; and I’m enjoying learning about the beautiful customs, language, & history of Appalachia which I have found is so similar to my Texas/Scotch-Irish/German roots. Thank you, Tipper, for blessing us with your love of Appalachia and it’s history. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving- you have certainly blessed mine!
Dont much care for turnips but I do use the greens for dehydrating and powdering to go in my spaghetti sauce and other dishes!
I love turnips! Love all greens…here in Franklin, the foxfire museum is just down the road . I enjoyed going several years back, and need to go again. My boyfriend took me and It was on a whim and didn’t have a lot of time before they were closing. I saw several of his family members photos in there and it was fascinating. They are in the books and all, but I need to write down some of what he tells me and tuck in book. Hard to keep it all straight, since I never met them. His “aunt doc” was Cherokee and a medicine woman. Back then though, you didn’t talk about being Cherokee… I don’t think she was in the foxfire info. They Gathered. It sure was a good project and fabulous for the future generations. I love reading these books. It reminds me of the work you’re doing. I have old neighbors and know people in bryson city area and think often how, “tipper needs to come talk to them before they are gone…” amazing what we can learn from the ones who came before us.
Turnips, parsnips, carrots, celery, onions…
Just a few of the ingredients I’ll need to make vegetable soup.
The more, different vegetables, the better.
I am thankful to have found an online group of people that love Appalachia and celebrate all its ways of expression in our lives. I love remembering the words we uniquely use….the music we love. I am thankful that folks take time to write comments on things that mean so much to our culture. I appreciate so much having access to this blind pig …where I feel part of a family of like minded people ..people that try hard to see and write about the many positive things we have in our culture….even if it turns out to be a shared experience of eating turnips.
I’m a city girl, but I have always liked turnips. Mom fixed them frequently and I do also. I use them a lot instead of potatoes in stews, etc. I’ve not used turnip greens, but think I’ll check out the recipes and try them as I really like most greens. Thanks for this post.
Me too Kat!
Turnips were a winter staple at my pap and nannie’s house with always a large plot sowed in the fall. After they got pithy we cut them up for the cows- never waste anything.
I knew a man who wanted to re sow his yard and went to the farm and garden supply for seed. The warehouse man gave him extra seed from a busted bag that he had swept up from the floor. His lawn came up with a fair amount of turnips mixed in. That was well and good until he mowed in the spring . The yard was so rough he could barely keep his seat connected with the mower seat. Beware the free floor sweepings.
My family and I love your channel. My siblings and I are homeschooled and actually have used your vocabulary videos as part of our curriculum. We live in the appalachian mountains as well and have heard quite a few of the old fashioned mountain words used by our grandma who grew up during the times of the great depression. Alot of the stories you tell about the old ways are almost the same as ones she had told us.
We too eat the turnip greens and the turnips themselves. We like cooking ours up with potatoes,onions and carrots in a recipe we call “root blend”. If we are lucky, in the spring,we use ramps instead of onions.
We as a family cook old fashioned meals alot because that’s just the way we like to eat.
Thanks again for your youtube channel and website. I appreciate you wanting to keep the old mountain ways alive!
I grew up eating turnips and turnip greens. I have an uncle in South Alabama who only ate the greens, and referred to the turnips themselves as “turnip roots.” In his experience, hardly anyone ever ate the “roots”. I will say that if you harvest all the greens all season, the turnips won’t develop as well. I love big, sweet turnips cooked with bacon and a slice or two of cornbread to push them on my fork.
My family and I love your channel. We are homeschooled and actually have used your vocabulary videos as part of our curriculum. We live in the appalachian mountains as well and have heard quite a few of the old fashioned mountain words used by our grandma who grew up during the times of the great depression. Alot of the stories you tell about the old ways are almost the same as ones she had told us.
We too eat the turnip greens and the turnips themselves. We like cooking ours up with potatoes,onions and carrots in a recipe we call “root blend”. If we are lucky, in the spring,we use ramps instead of onions.
We as a family cook old fashioned meals alot because that’s just the way we like to eat.
Thanks again for your youtube channel and website. I appreciate you wanting to keep the old mountain ways alive!
I didn’t plant any turnips this year but intended to until the two weeks of near record heat kept us out of the garden. The Fish And Wildlife folks told us to plant Japanese Turnips for the deer to eat. The deer don’t care what variety you leave in the ground for them as they love them all! I usually pick a few to eat raw and leave the rest.
I hadn’t thought about the Foxfire books, they make for some good reading on a winter night.
Love turnips but never grown my own. I will have to try growing them someday. Never heard anyone frying turnips may have to try it. I love to find different ways of preparing food, it breaks up the same ole, same ole ways of eating.
New subscriber here! I’ve got turnips growing in the hoop house that I plan on eating through the winter
I have read 2 of the Foxfire books this fall. I would love to add #4 to my collection.
Several years ago my husband & I went to a local festival. Everyone was walking around eating festival type foods like cotton candy, elephant ears and the like. We found a booth that had huge turnips and other veggies. We sat down and peeled and sliced one of the big turnips with my husbands pocket knife and shared it. I think we had the biggest treat around!
I am from the country in New York State and now live in Tennessee. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas we actually eat the turnip route itself. We boil it and mash them like mashed potatoes lots of butter and salt and pepper. They are delicious! When I move south I found out people only eat the greens and plow under all the roots. That is the main nutrition, is that big ball of turnip!w
I love your daily posts and I would love to have a copy of Foxfire 4!
Love turnips and….. rutabagas! I chop them up and cook in meat pies. One of the items on my bucket list is to get the set of Foxfire books. This would be a great start to get me aimed in that direction. Thank you!
Love your daily blogs! Turnips are not a favorite of mine, I do like the greens though!
Tipper, I have a pot on the stove right now. We plant a few. Here in Michgan they never survive our winters. I pack them in damp leaves, and they will last till April.
Well, off to clean my oven. Seems it’s always dirty. I just can’t stand being a day without using it.
I remember big turnips when I was young but haven’t seen any for years. I grew up with a huge garden and had one for many years during my first marriage and raising the girls. The last couple of years though, our garden has failed miserably. Its either too wet or too dry. No happy medium. I am thankful that we can still garden a bit though. Thanks Tipper for your wonderful stories. They mean the world to me.
I never liked turnips but do like to eat the green tops. Most people call these greens turnip greens but they were called sallet in my family. That is probably spelled wrong. Purple top is the most popular turnip grown in my area. I wonder if these large turnips were rutabagas.
I didn’t put out any turnips this year but I do like the turnip greens and raw turnips. My brother always sows turnips and eats the greens and fries the turnips with added sugar. He said they are really good fried. I’ve never tried them fried with sugar and probably wont.
I like turnip greens with a small turnip diced in them when cooked, I have never developed a taste for them by their self. I need to try them sometime like the lady mentioned with butter, I’ve always just used salt and pepper.
I really enjoy reading the Foxfire books, my Dad has several and I’ve read his before, I need to start my own collection sometime.
Really enjoyed your post this morning.
Turnips and greens are one of my family’s favorites ❤
I like turnips in soup! In Ger.an groceries, they have soup bundles….turnip, carrots, leeks…..so convenient and delicious!
We had large bags of large turnips donated to the food pantry that I coordinate. They came from a local healthy food store. Unfortunately we were able to convince the people coming to the pantry to take very many of the turnips, so I ended up taking them to an assisted living home near our home. They were cooked at the home to the pleasure of everyone there!!!
I like the greens not the root although I made a stew that called for one and it wasn’t bad in the stew. Usually turnip greens for New Years
Love turnips.
I don’t see real big turnips now. Wonder why they used to grow bigger? Now days I don’t eat so many cooked greens, now I eat more salad greens. I used to cook and eat mixed greens. Mixed greens were what ever greens were available cooked together….turnip greens, collard greens, polk salad, etc.
Mashed turnips with butter, salt, and pepper— so delicious. I love Thankful November!
I enjoy reading your articles and watching you and your family on YouTube.