Twenty Bag | Feb 3

Curly kale, Rainbow beets, head lettuce, Hakurei turnips, sage, sweet potato medley, scallions—another great bag of kitchen basics…and then some! Farmer Towles workin’ hard to ease us through the cold season.

Crisp, juicy Hakurei, aka Tokyo, turnips are great thinly sliced and eaten raw as a snack or in a salad. Or sheet pan roast them with a few radishes, Rainbow carrots and sweet potatoes you may still have from last week’s Bag. You may know the drill by now—chop the veggies evenly, toss them in good olive oil, salt and pepper, perhaps a glug of maple syrup, and bake in a 425 degree oven, checking to ensure nothing gets too crispy.

Store the turnips in a reusable storage bag in the fridge minus the green tops—but don’t toss them out! If you decide to make Deborah Madison’s turnip potage, those greens add flavor and color to this comforting, cold-weather dish. Store them as you would the head lettuce, unwashed, in a reusable bag. Rainbow beets, as well.

Scallions…spring onions…green onions. You may be wondering, like me, what the difference is! Healthline reports that it’s simply age that sets these alliums apart.

Scallions are younger than green onions, harvested at an earlier stage of their growth.

You can tell them apart by the width of the white bulb at the plant’s base. As it has spent less time in the ground, a scallion’s white bulb will be slimmer than a green onion’s.

As a general rule of thumb, the white bulb of a scallion will be about the same width as the stem and leaves of the plant.

Green onions, which are a little older, have a slightly wider white bulb at the bottom. This bulb is usually wider than the leaves and ovular in shape, not round.

Spring onions, usually planted in the summer, are older than them both, and have a slightly stronger flavor.

There you go! Store these tender veggies unwashed in a reusable bag in the fridge.

Curly kale will stay happy arranged given a tall drink of water—simply snip the ends like you would a bouquet of flowers and refrigerate in a cup of H2O. Sage likes this approach too.

Search sweetgrass + grits for more great recipes!