Turnip greens are exactly that — the greens that develop from a turnip. Gardening Know How says that they are part of the Brassica household, however what does that imply?
Turnips — and turnip greens — are additionally what’s known as cruciferous greens, and in keeping with MasterClass, their household additionally consists of arguably extra in style greens like kale, wasabi and horseradish, collard greens, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower.
It could be just a little exhausting to imagine, however these usually ignored greens have a protracted and unimaginable historical past. FoodPrint says that Neolithic-era seeds counsel that it has been a staple crop for 1000’s of years, they usually even acquired a point out within the works of classical author Pliny the Elder. Within the first century BC, he known as them one of the vital essential greens the traditional Greeks had, nevertheless it was kind of a gradual, downhill slide from there, significantly in comparatively current historical past.
By the fifteenth century, National Geographic says the time period “turnip eater” turned a kind of slang time period for uneducated nation folks, and it was a time period even Dickens picked up on. There is a unhappy connection right here, too — as a result of they’re pretty simple to develop, turnips and turnip greens turned related to not solely the poor, however with one of many staple meals that acquired scores of individuals by numerous famines and different tough instances, like World Battle II.