We spoke to Franceska Lawson from West Country Fruit Sales about the confusion surrounding these winter veggies…
“Recent ramblings have brought into question the primary ingredients of a longstanding westcountry recipe; the humble Cornish pasty. While it’s been widely debated what constitutes a traditional pasty filling (don’t mind us if we forgo the carrots and peas), one ingredient that has been recognised as part of the now protected recipe is the turnip, and by turnip, we mean swede. Confusing, right? While the two terms are interchangeable, these humble vegetables are, in fact, quite different.
The turnip, a cruciferous vegetable of the mustard species, is descended from a wild turnip. Native to Central Asia and parts of the Mediterranean, it was brought to the UK in the 16th century and originally intended as animal fodder. Before the cultivation of potatoes in mainland Britain, the crop was seen as a valuable source of nutrition, thriving in cooler climates. Its popularity spread to Western Europe, where the crop was prized for its taste. It has remained a staple in many European dishes, braised, glazed or raw, and is vastly more common on a European plate than a British one, perhaps due to its longstanding association with animal feed.
The most common kitchen variety, a creamy white globe with a purple head, is the European turnip. Although the globe is sweet and peppery in taste, it is in fact the leafy green top that holds most of the vegetable’s nutritional worth, being one of the richest sources of naturally occurring vitamin A.
The swede, a turnip cabbage hybrid, is far more common in British cuisine. Although often confused for its counterpart, the swede is significantly larger in size, with a yellower flesh and sweeter taste. A staple in Russian and Scandinavian diets, owing to its hardy nature, the crop is perfect for cultivation in colder climates. Unlike the turnip, the swede is a relatively new crop and doesn’t occur in the wild. Swiss botanist Casper Bauhin created the vegetable through cross species pollination. Swede or ‘neeps’, gained its popularity in Scotland long before it reached England, and was favoured among the working classes. Later, in Cornwall, it became the mainstay of the tin miners’ lunch, the Cornish pasty. During the early 19th century, the British repurposed the weighty vegetable to aid war efforts by using them as cannon balls. In more recent times, the swede or ‘rutabaga’ has inspired the International Rutabaga Curling Championships, which have taken place in Ithaca, Greece annually since 1997.
While we sympathise with the confusion, we think these two vegetables deserve to be the stars of their own shows (or dishes) in future.”