Introducing the Hakurei Salad Turnip

It was a crisp fall day a few years back when a farmer, hosting an educational workday on his lush organic farm, hopped down from his tractor to pull bunches of whited tender globes from the moist earth. "You have to try these," he said as he handed out a veggie snack to all of us eager young farmers. I had never really thought about turnips. They just never struck me as an interesting vegetable. But this Japanese salad turnip, sometimes called a Hakurei turnip, was a crisp, succulent treat, and has remained on the top of my fall veggie favorite list since that day.

So now I say to you, feeling a bit like a turnip evangelist - "You've got to try these. You'll love them, I promise." Eat them raw - sliced, diced, cubed or julienned - in a salad, with dip, or on their own. Or you can roast the roots or add them to soup, if you can get them that far - they so are good raw! And the greens can be sauteed or mixed into a salad raw as well.

Try them sliced in a salad of your favorite mixed baby greens, apple slices, and your favorite vinaigrette. Yum!

And here is a preview of a future salad - a baby cauliflower, nestled within it's leaves. This will probably appear on the market shelves near the end of the month!