Take a minute to compose your salad on the plate

Turnips never make the list of sexy vegetables. I haven’t yet heard that turnips will be the “new kale,” but who knows, maybe the fruity crunch of Hakurei Turnips will change all that.

Unlike the usual purple tinged, pink, or just kind of rough looking over-wintered turnip, these Hakurei turnips are a joy to eat raw. All you have to do is start peeling and you can feel how tender they are, yielding to your paring knife like an apple. The sweet, slightly cabbagey scent lets you know that they are fresh and succulent.

The Hakurei is Made for Salad

Sometimes called a “salad turnip,” or “Tokyo turnip,” Hakurei is a variety bred for crunch and smoothness on the palate. The pristine white skin is more akin to a just picked parsnip than a turnip.

A humble white Hakurei Turnip will surprise you

As the name would imply, the Hakurei is of Japanese origin. It’s not new, but they seem to only appear in Summer, in better stocked produce departments and farmer’s markets. They are just so pretty that I keep buying them, and I’m never disappointed. They have a fruity, slightly earthy flavor, with lots of juicy snap. The rooty, bitter notes of other turnips are nowhere to be found.

Not that I don’t like the other kinds, check out this recipe for Turnips Three Ways.

Like all turnips, they are high in Vitamin C, and the greens are even more nutritious. They are right up there with kale, nutritionally, full of Vitamin A, K, C, folate, copper, calcium, and cancer-preventing glucosinalates. My greens were kind of wilted by the time I got them home, so I didn’t put them in the salad this time, but you certainly should when they are fresh. I saved them for a saute later.

So if you see some mysteriously pale turnips in your CSA, at the Farmer’s Market, or at the grocery store, give them a try. They will be in season all summer long, to add variety to your same old salads.

Try this Asian-inspired salad, with a dressing that takes about 2 minutes to make. It’s so easy.

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Big Salad with Hakurei Turnip and Hemp-Tamarind Dressing

A little chopping and a simple dressing pack lots of flavor and texture, showing off the sweet, tender Hakurei Turnip to full effect.

Course Salad

Servings 4

Author Robin Asbell

Ingredients

• 4 cups sliced Nappa cabbage use part turnip greens, if fresh and crisp
• 2 large carrots shredded
• 2 stalks broccoli cut in florets
• 4 large red radishes julienned
• 2 medium Hakurei Turnips julienned
• 4 handfuls pea shoots trimmed
• 1/4 cup hemp oil
• 1/4 cup tamarind paste
• 2 tablespoons tamari
• 2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce
• 2 teapoons fresh ginger minced
• hemp seeds for garnish

Instructions

• Prep all the vegetables, and arrange them on four dinner plates, in order.
  
• In a cup, mix the oil, tamarind, tamari and ginger. If your tamarind is very thick, stir in a little water to make a pourable dressing.
  
• Serve salads drizzled with dressing and sprinkled with hemp seeds.
  

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