Quite a while ago I was trying to find a recipe for pickling turnips. I ended up making up one by combining pickled carrot and pickled daikon radish recipes and using the materials I had on hand. I tried them over the holidays and they're pretty good. They have an anise flavor, and are somewhat sweet. I think when I do it again I will use anise seed instead of star anise, but I had just run out of the seed so I used what I had on hand. Here is the recipe.

Pickled Holland tyfon root

2 lb. tyfon root, peeled and cut into thin sticks 1 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1 1/2 cup water 1 cup sugar 2 tsp. mustard seed 2 tsp. star anise, chopped 1 tsp. celery seed 2 tsp. pickling salt

Put tyfon roots into boiling, salted water that just covers them. Cook 10 minutes. Drain. Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes. Pack tyfon root into hot jars, cover with hot spiced liquid, allowing 1.2 inch headroom. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes to ensure seal. Makes 3 pints.

-- Sheryl in ME (radams@sacoriver.net), January 05, 2002

Answers

Excuse my ignorance but what is a tyfon root?

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), January 05, 2002.

Mitch, that's a good question. In fact, I couldn't really come up with a positive answer when I asked! I ordered Holland tyfon greens seeds from Pinetree Seeds. They produce an incredible amount of good tasting greens that can be eaten all summer long either cooked or raw. Come fall, I noticed that they had a turnip-like root, so I called Pinetree and asked if the root was edible. They said that they didn't know. One person from Pinetree recommended that I stick with turnips and another asked me to contact them if they were any good!!! Since the greens taste like a mild turnip green and no one that I talked to had ever heard of a poisonous turnip, I had them for dinner one night and they were quite good. They taste sort of like a cross between a radish and a turnip, and they look like a small rutabaga. They have more of a radish texture. I had the pickles for lunch today and they are quite good too.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), January 05, 2002.

Youm ate it, did you live?!! Seriously, do you have a latin name for it?

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), January 05, 2002.

Mitch, I tried to get more information from Pinetree Seeds when I asked about the root and they had none for me. I don't have a latin name. One person at the seed company told me that the plant is a cross between a chinese cabbage and a turnip, but an employee at another Maine seed company said that such a cross would not produce viable seed. I'm really in the dark on this one, but I like the greens and the root so I guess it's a keeper even if I can't tell you exactly what I'm keeping!

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), January 06, 2002.

Do a search at www.google.com on "tyfon greens" and, as usual, the anser comes right up.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), January 06, 2002.

I tried google with tyfon root and got nothing.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), January 06, 2002.

Yep. Try "tyfon greens". That is what she used the root of. It's a brassica.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), January 06, 2002.

All right...next time I'll check the net instead of asking the seed company! I guess I just assumed that if the company selling me the seed couldn't tell me if the root was edible, no one else would know either. I guess Pinetree doesn't necessarily research all their products well or at least the people who answer the phones don't have the answers!

-- Sheryl in ME (radams@sacoriver.net), January 07, 2002.