Hakurei turnip

Navet hakurei

What it is

It was bred in Japan in the years after the war as a kabu you could eat without cooking, and its skin is thin enough that peeling removes flavour rather than toughness. The tops are not a bonus but half the crop, and a bunch sold without them has usually sat long enough for someone to cut them away.

In the kitchen

Do not peel and do not boil: halve them and either eat them raw with salt and butter, or sear them cut-side down in a hot pan for three minutes and finish with a splash of water under a lid. Cook the greens separately — sixty seconds for the leaves, three minutes for the roots, and together both come out wrong.

Goes with

Butter Miso Lemon Olive oil Bonito (katsuo) Sesame

Same species

Baek-kimchi Broccoli Brussels sprout Cabbage Cauliflower Cavolo nero

Also used with

Maguro-bushi

In season alongside

Bettarazuke Cévennes sweet onion Chioggia beetroot Prickly pear Green bean Jicama

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