This subject may have been written about many times before, but I am still fascinated by the variation in the naming of swedes and turnips in different parts of the UK and other countries in Europe and beyond. As far as I am concerned, the vegetable on the right is a turnip and the one on the left is a swede.
As I have such a lot of ground to cover in this article, I shall follow it up with another piece suggesting ways of cooking both vegetables.
I started to think about it all very seriously and plan my article back in April when on holiday in the Republic of Ireland. Fortunately I love both vegetables, but when we ordered gammon with turnip in a lovely café for lunch one day, I must admit that I was expecting the small, white one. However, we were served with the orange one! It was absolutely delicious – see picture below.
Now I am not one to say that because I live in the South of England, my opinion is more valid than anyone else’s! I was however fascinated in discussing this topic with friends, and in looking at other articles on the subject, to find that many people call both vegetables swedes! Why, when they are a different size, shape and colour, and taste quite different?! Some people reverse the names and call the little white ones swedes and the large orange ones turnips! As far as I can tell, in most shops, the convention is to call the orange ones swedes and the white ones turnips, even if that is not the custom in the locality.
Once again I turned to my Archers’ Appreciation friends to ask them simply what they call these two vegetable, and also to identify where in the UK or elsewhere they are living. This is by no means a scientific or balanced survey, and I suspect that some of the terminology comes from childhood influence, and is not related to where people are currently living. I compiled a spreadsheet of the responses (I had about 130) to make it easier to analyse them. Many people gave me more than one response. I had a fascinating discussion with Helen Peters about Cornish Pasties! They must of course contain swede, but as most Cornish people call the orange ones turnips, the listed ingredients can include turnip. It has to be the orange one though! This discussion inevitably turned to the merits or otherwise of protecting the Cornish Pasty recipe. I had always thought that this was probably a good thing, and I am happy to make pasties and not call them ‘Cornish.’ However, it seems that many people in Cornwall are frustrated by the protection. It does not necessarily protect quality, and those who are Cornish by birth but have moved away from the region, can no longer make pasties and call them Cornish Pasties!
Anyway, I digress, as this article is not meant to be just about pasties! Looking at my over-all survey results, it is clear that in these regions the orange one is a swede and the white one is a turnip: South East, South West apart from Cornwall, East Anglia, Essex, Midlands and Wales. In the North it is quite varied. Manchester, Durham and Yorkshire use the same convention as the South East and other regions listed above; other regions such as The Isle of Man, Sunderland and Tyneside reverse the names. I have to draw particular attention to Wendy Kibblewhite’s husband, who is from ‘oop narth’ (her words not mine!) and calls the white one a turnip and the orange one another turnip. A similar situation in Gateshead with the orange one being a turnip and the white one another sort of turnip. In Hull we have turnip (orange one) and cattle fodder (white). Duncan Mitchell assures me that in Northumberland we have bagie (orange) and too small to bother with (white).
In Cornwall the consensus is that they are both turnips. A couple of other variations in the South West include in Somerset, Mangelwurzel (orange) and turnip or sheep food (white). In South Devon where Sarah Trinick lives the words are turnip (orange) and turnip or spawn of the devil (white).
In Scotland most respondents reverse the norm, so turnip (orange) and swede (white), although some of course call the orange ones neeps. I think even in the South we are familiar with neeps and tatties! As I share a birthday with Robbie Burns, I am very familiar with this great dish! One respondent in Edinburgh uses Neep (orange) and Inedible vegetable to feed to cows (white).
In some other countries, including the Republic of Ireland, France and America, the orange ones are rutabaga, and in France the white ones are navet. Jamie Findlay in Japan reports that the orange ones are kabu.
Some of the names, it is clear, reflect the animosity felt for these vegetables! I have never come across such negative comments about vegetables, and this was across the regions. However, some respondents suggested some wonderful recipes for both swedes and turnips (or orange ones and white ones I should say!) Actually, I should say that there is probably even more animosity for brussels sprouts! (recipe blog page to come soon!)
Another interesting gem that came from my discussions was the number of people who are familiar with turnip lanterns, which apparently were popular long before pumpkin lanterns for Halloween. Pam Cruickshank, Sheena Hutchison, Rhona Easton, Craig Bennett and John Rouse all mentioned these. Sheena posted a lovely picture of some turnip lanterns for me! John Rouse said, If you can make a turnip lantern out of it, it’s a turnip. If it sings ABBA songs and drives a Volvo, it’s a Swede. (Thanks John, my kind of humour!) Turnip lanterns though were made out of the orange ones, and seem to have been popular in Scotland. It has to be acknowledged though that carving a swede/turnip would be no mean feat! It is not surprising that pumpkins have become more popular for this activity! (Anyone have any statistics for turnip carving-related accidents?!)
Many of my friends, including Dave Wolfskehl, suggested some great recipes for both vegetables. I shall include these along with some of my own recipes in my follow-up article.
What do you call these vegetables? Do you enjoy cooking with them? I’d love to hear any more regional variations on the names.