Can anyone help settle a little domestic dispute. For Burns night we want neeps (of course) to go with the haggis. So I went looking for a swede (the vegetable not a scandinavian gentleman). I remember swede as being orange. Anyway, I failed but my other half went out and came back with "napicol" which she swears is the same as "neeps". It looks like a turnip to me, and doesn't taste like swede - and it's very pale yellow. To settle the argument, we tried google and Yahoo espana but nada.

Can anyone settle the argument ( or tell me a way to win it by unfair means......).

wordreference says swede is nabo sueco, and this link appears to suggest that that's the same as nabicol.

http://fichas.infojardin.com/hortali...abo-blanco.htm

I speak as one who doesn't know turnips from swedes

In Scotland a neep is a Swede. i.e. neeps and carrots + swede and carrots

A swede is usually large than a turnip, and when peeled is paler than a butternut squash.

A Turnip is usually smaller and whiter creamy flesh (and tastes bloody awful) -

Just spoken to a colleague who's wife is spanish - he thinks it is Nabo - but he says they(Spanish) only eat the leaves the body of the swede is cow fodder. Just confirmed by another colleague who served swede to some spanish friends and the were horrified when he explained what they were eating.

Zapping from the France forum, you can get swedes here (orange and called rutabaga) and also two types of turnips (navet), the usual white type and a yellowy type which looks and tastes like small swedes.

Enjoy your Burns Night!

Thanks for the replies - I always thought neeps = swede and are orange/deep yellow. Anyway my wife's doing the cooking - she's convinced the white things she bought are the same as neeps. So (as usual) I will let her win the argument!

I thought nabo were those huge white radish things?

yep! they taste radishy to me too!

the first pic is a nabo, the second a turnip

I use nabos in stews, but I can't remember ever using turnips in the UK for some reason

I peel & eat 'em like radishes, sometimes in dainty chunks sometimes gnawed whole .... turnips, parsnips, swede, you name it bring'em on!!

(though of those 3 only turnips would I consider raw)

Yes they are - they have a blueish top to them and cook up fairly orange.

The white ones are probably turnips of one sort.

I have never seen swedes for sale in Spain apart from Iceland shops!

Neeps are definitely swede. The confusion arises because in many parts of Scotland they call swede turnip, the smaller white things not generally being available in the past. By the time I left Scotland some supermarkets were selling them which meant turnips suddenly became swede on the shelves.

I've never seen swede in Spain but I'm more curious to know where you got your haggis.

Anyhow enjoy and don't forget a wee dram to wash it all down.

Rose

Nabo - Turnip
Nabo Sueco - Swede
Also has a few other obscure meanings, including use as an insult as per Graham Taylor.

Turnips are much softer and easier to eat in their raw state,.....but very susceptible to frost
Swedes very much harder and can stand up to quite a lot of frost.
Used to grow both as root fodder for cattle.
Used the turnips first before the hard frosts came along.

There are quite a few varieties of both.

I was born and brought up in Scotland, my dad grew most of our veg, for me turnip = neep, orange colour inside. We used neeps to make our halloween lantrens. Swede is white inside and mother only ever used it soup, stew never served a seperate veg that I can remember.

Sorry for not answering your question sooner. I got the haggis from Expats supermarket near Villajoyosa - frozen I'm afraid but they tasted o.k.. We ended up using frozen swede - we tried the small white turnips ( nabicol ) but didn't like them - they are o.k. in a stew but not with haggis.

Pete