Kurma

GM from Germany asks:

"In one of your recipes (Couscous and Vegetable Sauce) turnips are used. What exactly is a turnip? This round thing sticking in the earth, which can grow almost to the size of a football and which is mainly used nowadays for feeding animals?"

My reply:

"It is round, yes, and it does stick out of the earth. No, maybe you're confusing it with a pumpkin. Feeding pumpkins to animals is an ignorant European habit, in my opinion. I find pumpkin a delicious vegetable; its many varieties are loved all around the world by civilised cooks. But we won't get into veg-centric politics here.

No, a turnip is different. I presume there is a specific German word for it (Rübe?). If you feed these to your animals too, then just leave it out the recipe. If it is used by humans in Germany, all well and good.

The turnip is pictured above. You could use just about any root vegetable instead, like kohlrabi, which I know is well-loved in Germany (pictured below).

Hope this helps.

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