We love our community supported agriculture farm share with Laughing Stock Farm in Freeport, Maine.  We missed it while we were in England, so we were delighted to rejoin again when we returned home in August.  We’re trying out the winter share for the first time this year and we are looking forward to eating locally grown produce all four seasons.

The fact that I can now say that I enjoy a food like turnips is one of the reasons I enjoy having a farm share. Paul and I had always thought that we didn’t like turnips.  Who knows where this idea came from – perhaps from too many bad New England boiled dinners as children that tasted only like over-cooked turnip?  Anyway, having lovely local turnips to try as part of our weekly share encouraged us to give them a try.  And we liked them!  

At farm share pick-up one afternoon, another member was talking about how she was enjoying making pickled turnips from the beautiful purple-top turnips.  Given my love of making pickles, this definitely caught my interest!  After a little internet research, I developed a pickled turnip recipe that I think is pretty tasty.  And simple – it only requires turnips, a beet, garlic, salt, vinegar, and water.  The recipe is here if you are interested.  

The first step is to prepare the veggies.  Peel the turnips and beets and chop them into sticks.  

Peel the garlic and then smash it gently – just enough to release the juices but not break it into tiny bits.  

Prepare the brine by mixing water, vinegar, and salt in a saucepan.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  

Combine the turnips, beets, and garlic and put the mixture into a quart size jar.  Pour the hot brine over the vegetables.  Cool and refrigerate.  

After a week or so, the beet completely colors the turnips.  You can’t distinguish turnip from beet!  

We all think they are pretty yummy.  

Let me know if you try making these.  I’d love to hear how you like them!  The recipe is here.