Tokyo Turnips
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A Japanese salad turnip — small, white, and smooth-skinned, bred for eating raw or with minimal cooking. Tokyo turnips are a different proposition from the large, dense, sometimes bitter turnips most people are familiar with. They are harvested young, typically at around 5–6cm in diameter, when the flesh is still crisp, translucent, and juicy with a clean sweetness and only a gentle peppery finish.
The variety was developed in Japan for use in salads, pickles, and lightly cooked preparations where texture matters as much as flavour. The cell structure is finer and holds more water than a standard European turnip, which gives the flesh its characteristic crunch and almost radish-like juiciness when eaten raw. Cooking changes the character quickly — a brief steam or sauté softens them into something delicate and silky, but overcooking turns them to mush. They respond best to speed and simplicity.
The greens are entirely edible and worth using. They have a mild, slightly mustard-like flavour that works well wilted quickly in a hot pan — treat them as you would a tender spring green rather than a root vegetable top.
These are grown by the Tanaka family on their fourth-generation farm in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, where cool temperatures and mineral-rich soils suit the variety well.
Producer: Tanaka family, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
Ingredients: Tokyo turnips with greens.