Turnips and early flowering

The first Turnips of the season

You don't see many turnips in the shops these days. As with many once common foods they are more likely to feature on the menus of Michelin starred restaurants as purées, than on the plates of the ordinary citizen. It is said that before the introduction of potatoes turnips were once a very important food, providing good carbohydrates fairly early in the season. I shall try them in a gratin this weekend with a shoulder of lamb (our weekly meat-fix) - and will report on the result. These particular turnips found themselves cooked in a couscous, and very good they were too. The wine was a rosé from the Côte Roannaise - L'Enjoleur 2009 from Domaine Robert Sérol.

The turnip may not be inspiring or fashionable but it is a versatile root (a friend suggested roasting them with a honey glaze) and worthy of our attention, just like many other neglected vegetables and wild foods. It is wise to be familiar with them.

A quick aside to comment on the early flowering of vines this year - before Wimbledon, no less ! A long growing and ripening season in prospect for English and Welsh growers. As usual there has been a lot of comment in the press about exceptionally good harvests and brilliant English wines this year. But as the saying goes, there is many a slip twixt cup and lip.