# root veg



## smitty5668 (Feb 25, 2015)

this might be the dumbest question ever asked on here but here goes: can you buy 
celeriac,swede/turnip and parsnips in my part of spain, murcia as DW and i can't remember seeing any any where.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

I don't know about your part but in my part you certainly can buy all of those and pretty much all year round.


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

Parsnip (chirivía - sometimes called zanahoria blanca) and swede/turnip (nabo) you will find in most supermarkets. Celeriac (apio-nabo) might be less readily available.

Our Mercadona does a 'stew pack' which is a mixture of these plus usually celery and carrot.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

DunWorkin said:


> Parsnip (chirivía - sometimes called zanahoria blanca) and swede/turnip (nabo) you will find in most supermarkets. Celeriac (apio-nabo) might be less readily available.
> 
> Our Mercadona does a 'stew pack' which is a mixture of these plus usually celery and carrot.


Hang on a moment, swede and turnip are different - one is white and one is yellow for a start.

Isn't turnip nabo and swede (naba) sueco?


We can get all of these in our local fruit and veg shop - parsnips used to be a problem when we first arrived but are quite common now.


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## smitty5668 (Feb 25, 2015)

thank you all for the replies. we usually buy our fresh produce from the local markets around here and i don't remember seeing them on there. will look in local mercadona when we are there.

thanks again.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I have never seen swede or parsnips in a Spanish supermarket. They are an exotic treat for us, following our biannual trip to the Morrisons supermarket in Gibraltar. I took a parsnip to our local bar once and they insisted it was a mutant white carrot.

Last year we found some in Frigiliana just before Christmas and the owner said he imported them specially for the Brits. They were about a euro each!


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

snikpoh said:


> Hang on a moment, swede and turnip are different - one is white and one is yellow for a start.
> 
> Isn't turnip nabo and swede (naba) sueco?
> 
> ...


In our supermarket swede and turnip are both labelled nabo. I always think of them as the same thing just sometimes a slightly different colour. Maybe it is just my culinary knowledge that is lacking - lol.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

DunWorkin said:


> In our supermarket swede and turnip are both labelled nabo. I always think of them as the same thing just sometimes a slightly different colour. Maybe it is just my culinary knowledge that is lacking - lol.


Seriously, they are VERY different in look and, more importantly, in taste.

FYI - Seed to Feed Me: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TURNIP AND A SWEDE?


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

If you can't find swede or parsnips, try the Spanish vegetable _boniato_ (sweet potato) which is available everywhere over the winter. Some places sell them ready-roasted. They can also be boiled, mashed etc and are extremely delicious.


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## smitty5668 (Feb 25, 2015)

these we know about and are widely available. it was the others that we are curios about.


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## Aranjuez (May 21, 2015)

Parsnips I have seen in the stew packs in Mercadona but nowhere else. Swede in the stew packs in Consum likewise but a smallish piece of poor quality. I have a vague recollection of seeing a few on a market once. Turnips also in the stew packs, on the local markets and possibly in the supermarkets but again don't seem to be popular in this part of Spain at least. Celeriac I can't comment on, as I have not bought or used it, it would not have registered. I will now try some further experimentation with sweet potato as a result of reading this thread so am grateful for that idea.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

I can buy a pack of parsnips (3 or 4 large) for around €1.60. Always available in Torrox and Nerja as well as Torre del Mar, Rincon - more or less everywhere here. The Spanish love them around these parts.


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## smitty5668 (Feb 25, 2015)

we're using swede, sweet potato,celeriac and various other root and tuba's tonight.
sweet potato and celeriac mash to go on top of a shepherd's pie along side the usual carrot and spuds.


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## smitty5668 (Feb 25, 2015)

thrax said:


> I can buy a pack of parsnips (3 or 4 large) for around €1.60. Always available in Torrox and Nerja as well as Torre del Mar, Rincon - more or less everywhere here. The Spanish love them around these parts.


might have to do a trip down to your part of spain thrax


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Well once you find a good supply don't forget you can par boil all root vegetables and then freeze them until needed. We do it all the time so that on the one day they don't have fresh in the shop I have my frozen backup. I wouldn't advise buying frozen root veg as they can by quite tough, especially parsnips.


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## smitty5668 (Feb 25, 2015)

thrax said:


> Well once you find a good supply don't forget you can par boil all root vegetables and then freeze them until needed. We do it all the time so that on the one day they don't have fresh in the shop I have my frozen backup. I wouldn't advise buying frozen root veg as they can by quite tough, especially parsnips.


yep can be tough as old boots. blanche and freeze is the way to go,


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

We have a local farmer who often gives us the Spanish long green peppers. Normally around 5 kg. Way too much so we hand them out to friends and relatives but the rest we take the top off, cut in half lengthways and de seed, then blanch and flash freeze. Great way to avoid waste.


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## smitty5668 (Feb 25, 2015)

thrax said:


> We have a local farmer who often gives us the Spanish long green peppers. Normally around 5 kg. Way too much so we hand them out to friends and relatives but the rest we take the top off, cut in half lengthways and de seed, then blanch and flash freeze. Great way to avoid waste.



agreed, i really hate waste.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

I am reviving this thread in the hope that some of the posters may be able to help me get hold of a swede or two in time for Xmas.

This will only be the second time that I have not returned to the UK for Xmas since I left in 2004, and the last time, I got my sister to send me one from the UK, but the cost of posting a swede internationally was frankly a bit ridiculous.

But I really would like some swede with my xmas dinner this year and in Madrid I have yet to find a swede dealer... whereas people in other parts of the peninsula seem to be quite used to seeing them. Of course I will cover purchase and delivery costs!


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

If you get hold of a swede around now best thing to do is dice it, par boil it and then freeze it for use on the day or day before. However, a word of warning. Don't do what I did last Christmas. I took out my frozen swede on Christmas morning, boiled it, pureed it and then added mustard seeds and diced bacon. All good? No, far from it as my frozen swede was really frozen mango. It just isn't the same even with the bacon and mustard seeds. But, boy, do they look identical when diced and frozen...


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Beware bringing swedes from the UK in your hand luggage - to the X-ray machine they look like hand grenades or something similar.

We were once returning to Spain from Christmas in the UK with dear mother-in-law and she insisted that we took half a swede with us rather than waste it.

This caused some furore in security at Bristol airport.

Damned embarrassing - wasn't even n whole one.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

jimenato said:


> Beware bringing swedes from the UK in your hand luggage - to the X-ray machine they look like hand grenades or something similar.
> 
> We were once returning to Spain from Christmas in the UK with dear mother-in-law and she insisted that we took half a swede with us rather than waste it.
> 
> ...


Been there, done that!

I returned to Spain after Xmas some years ago with a swede in my hand luggage, also Bristol Airport.
I also had a new water pump for my classic car.

The security demanded that I open my ruck-sack and show them the metal part (the water pump). Upon inspection they told me that I would not be allowed to take it onboard as it was classified as a dangerous item.

I challenged this and asked what exactly is dangerous about a water pump, to which they responded that it was a "heavy" item which could be used as a weapon.

So I proceeded to remove the swede (in its carrier bag) from my ruck-sack and swing it around my head, demonstrating and explaining simultaneously that if I wanted to inflict harm on anyone during the flight I would have chosen the swede as my weapon, not the pump.

This is the one and only time I have ever convinced airport security to change their mind. Both the swede and the pump accompanied me on the flight.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I use boniatos (sweet potatoes) where I would have used swedes. They are easily available here and in winter the local bakers do ready-roasted ones. The taste is quite similar especially if you mash them with butter and mustard.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

Alcalaina said:


> I use boniatos (sweet potatoes) where I would have used swedes. They are easily available here and in winter the local bakers do ready-roasted ones. The taste is quite similar especially if you mash them with butter and mustard.


We use sweet potatoes quite often in our cooking here, and I'm afraid that they, at least for me, don't step up to the mark as a swede substitute.

If anyone sees any on their travels, let me know, as it may be a good excuse for a road trip


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## Costachick (Apr 22, 2016)

I pop down to a shop called 'overseas' in Mijas costa once a month (it sells products from Iceland and waitrose) to buy English sausages, the shop also has a fruit and veg section, I've seen sugar snap peas and sweet potatoes sold there, I'm guessing they also have swede and parsnips (if not fresh definitely frozen).


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## John Seigal (Oct 21, 2017)

Alcalaina said:


> try the Spanish vegetable _boniato_ (sweet potato) which is available everywhere over the winter. Some places sell them ready-roasted. They can also be boiled, mashed etc and are extremely delicious.


These are from South or Central America way before the Spanish invaded the region. Nothing Spanish about them except they are sold in Spanish shops.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

On Torrox Costa is a Spanish food store and from around now they always stock fresh swedes, parsnips and sprouts. Another store in Nerja, Iranzo, always stock these veg.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Costachick said:


> I pop down to a shop called 'overseas' in Mijas costa once a month (it sells products from Iceland and waitrose) *to buy English sausages*, the shop also has a fruit and veg section, I've seen sugar snap peas and sweet potatoes sold there, I'm guessing they also have swede and parsnips (if not fresh definitely frozen).


I don't bother anymore and just use "longanizas" from Mercadona - a good substitute.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

John Seigal said:


> These are from South or Central America way before the Spanish invaded the region. Nothing Spanish about them except they are sold in Spanish shops.


A bit like potatoes then! And tomatoes and peppers...


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Brussels sprouts spotted in Mercadona last week ...

Get them on the boil now and they might just be ready for Christmas.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

We have an English butcher who delivers wonderful English sausages. Cumberland, chilli, Lincolnshire and pork sausages. All wonderful and he makes them at his shop.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Alcalaina said:


> Brussels sprouts spotted in Mercadona last week ...
> 
> Get them on the boil now and they might just be ready for Christmas.


Yuk!


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## emlyn (Oct 26, 2012)

thrax said:


> We have an English butcher who delivers wonderful English sausages. Cumberland, chilli, Lincolnshire and pork sausages. All wonderful and he makes them at his shop.


I am interested to know where your butcher is located if it’s located within 5 or so kilometres of nerja.
Thanking you in anticipation.


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## John Seigal (Oct 21, 2017)

Alcalaina said:


> Brussels sprouts spotted in Mercadona last week ...
> 
> Get them on the boil now and they might just be ready for Christmas.


Did not know brussel sprouts were a root vegetable...

Anyway, steaming them are the best way... Only the Brits boil their vegetables to death..


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

John Seigal said:


> Did not know brussel sprouts were a root vegetable...
> 
> Anyway, steaming them are the best way... Only the Brits boil their vegetables to death..


There is only one way of dealing with those foul objects called Brussels sprouts and that is to put them on the compost heap.


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## Patico (Sep 24, 2017)

Brussel Sprouts are NOT a root vegetable. It is a Cruciferous vegetable.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

Costachick said:


> I pop down to a shop called 'overseas' in Mijas costa once a month (it sells products from Iceland and waitrose) to buy English sausages, the shop also has a fruit and veg section, I've seen sugar snap peas and sweet potatoes sold there, I'm guessing they also have swede and parsnips (if not fresh definitely frozen).


Thanks, but I have already researched this chain of shops, and thay don't have any oulets in Madrid or nearby, so its a bot difficult for mne to just "pop down"!!!

Sadly, they do not offer delivery either...


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

emlyn said:


> I am interested to know where your butcher is located if it’s located within 5 or so kilometres of nerja.
> Thanking you in anticipation.


Hi, he isn't located near Nerja but he delivers to Nerja once every three weeks. He has a Facebook page where you can see his shop and what is on offer.


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## 95995 (May 16, 2010)

Ah, I see Little Britain is located in Spain :rofl:


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

EverHopeful said:


> Ah, I see Little Britain is located in Spain :rofl:


Good of you to catch up.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

John Seigal said:


> Did not know brussel sprouts were a root vegetable...
> 
> Anyway, steaming them are the best way... Only the Brits boil their vegetables to death..


Neither are sausages, but they seem to have found their way into the thread.

I might try roasting the sprouts with cranberries, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Looks rather more appealing than boiled/steamed.

Recetas Entrantes | Receta Coles de Bruselas Asadas con Arándanos


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## 95995 (May 16, 2010)

Alcalaina said:


> Neither are sausages, but they seem to have found their way into the thread.
> 
> I might try roasting the sprouts with cranberries, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Looks rather more appealing than boiled/steamed.
> 
> Recetas Entrantes | Receta Coles de Bruselas Asadas con Arándanos


There are lots of ways to cook brussels sprouts that are far more appetising (in deed, delicious  ) than boiled or steamed  It would be several decades since I boiled or steamed them, apart from a few occasions in order to part-cook a little before cooking in some other manner (and that is primarily just to save a little time).no doubt if people search on the net they will find lots of recipes, even in English. (Same goes for cabbage.) Once you are familiar with a few, you can try your own variations on a theme.

Getting back to root vegetables, I much prefer sweet potato to swede - oh, and that's another vegetable you can cook in many ways, although it's certainly delicious when roasted.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

There's no need to mess about with cooking sprouts - they are absolutely fine steamed as all vegetables should be. The days of vegetables boiled to a mush are well behind us in the UK - and by the way just about the only cooked vegetables apart from chips I've ever been served in Spain come out of a jar.

By the way if you don't like sprouts you are Neanderthal.



> Spanish researchers say they're a step closer to resolving a "mystery of evolution" -- why some people like Brussels sprouts but others hate them.
> They have found that a gene in modern humans that makes some people dislike a bitter chemical called phenylthiocarbamide, or PTC, was also present in Neanderthals hundreds of thousands of years ago.


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## Alvarro (Dec 23, 2016)

I live in a very small village where parsnips, swedes and turnips are not at all available. I was once told by the many vegetable shops that these are for feeding cattle and pigs, not humans. Even if I go to Ubeda or Linares (Corte Ingles) these vegetables are never on sale. This Christmas will be different as my sister bought me on her visit a large bag of parsnips which are now blanched and frozen. Can't wait for the roast rib of beef and roast parsnips on December 25th.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

So, a friend of mine who works in a Gourmet grocers looked for swede in the market this morning....
He sent me a photo (at 5.19 am...) of a box of turnips.

I said that they were not "nabo suecos" and sent him a photo of the normal orange / purple affair that we know.

He replied saying that the trader showed him the normal turnips (nabos) and the ones he offered me were apparently called "colinabos" and were a bit bigger and obviously different. But not orange / purple....

So, what the hell is a colinabo, why is it white and looking like a normal turnip and will it taste like swede?

:help:

EDIT: I found this site which clearly states that the skin colour varies, but that the nutritional value is the same between the colours....

I don't give two hoots about the nutritional values though! I want to know if they taste the same!!!

http://www.frutas-hortalizas.com/Hortalizas/Presentacion-Colinabo.html


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Taste pretty much the same for us. We have them at Christmas cooked in an old Victorian styled recipe which includes creamed horse radish...


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

thrax said:


> Taste pretty much the same for us. We have them at Christmas cooked in an old Victorian styled recipe which includes creamed horse radish...


White "Colinabos" you mean?

That is quite encouraging!


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Overandout said:


> White "Colinabos" you mean?
> 
> That is quite encouraging!


Yup, those are the things I'm talking about!! One year I managed to get the turnips we are used to and cooked both types in different dishes and then let family blind taste them (I'm a very sad person) and nobody could tell the difference...


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

thrax said:


> Yup, those are the things I'm talking about!! One year I managed to get the turnips we are used to and cooked both types in different dishes and then let family blind taste them (I'm a very sad person) and nobody could tell the difference...


Wait, so they taste like turnips or like swede...


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Overandout said:


> Wait, so they taste like turnips or like swede...


Definitely turnips


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

thrax said:


> Definitely turnips




Thanks anyway...


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Overandout said:


> Thanks anyway...


Did I misunderstand? You want something that tastes like swede? I would certainly recommend a visit to our parts where swede is available almost all year...


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

thrax said:


> Did I misunderstand? You want something that tastes like swede? I would certainly recommend a visit to our parts where swede is available almost all year...


Yes, I am trying to get a swede or two, but in Madrid it is impossible.

Sadly, I can't justify a 500 / 600 km road trip just to buy root veg... and no suppliers that I have located in the "expat" areas do delivery to Madrid.

My sister has offerd to post one from the UK, but it does seem rather ridiculous! 8 quid postage on a 90p item!


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Overandout said:


> Yes, I am trying to get a swede or two, but in Madrid it is impossible.
> 
> Sadly, I can't justify a 500 / 600 km road trip just to buy root veg... and no suppliers that I have located in the "expat" areas do delivery to Madrid.
> 
> My sister has offerd to post one from the UK, but it does seem rather ridiculous! 8 quid postage on a 90p item!


There are two stores local to us who regularly sell swedes. One is a kind of international store which sells produce from all over Europe (run by Spanish) the other is an independent supermarket (also run by Spanish) and they sell mainly to the local Spanish who, at least down here, love swede. So, whilst I recognise your intensive research, I'm willing to bet that there will be an independent store or two in Madrid who sell swede. Down here, on Facebook, we have a page devoted to giving advice and help for folk who live in the Axarquia and I wonder if you just might have such a group for Madrid. Perhaps someone will know but if you do it just might be that someone will know where you can get swedes from....


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

thrax said:


> There are two stores local to us who regularly sell swedes. One is a kind of international store which sells produce from all over Europe (run by Spanish) the other is an independent supermarket (also run by Spanish) and they sell mainly to the local Spanish who, at least down here, love swede. So, whilst I recognise your intensive research, I'm willing to bet that there will be an independent store or two in Madrid who sell swede. Down here, on Facebook, we have a page devoted to giving advice and help for folk who live in the Axarquia and I wonder if you just might have such a group for Madrid. Perhaps someone will know but if you do it just might be that someone will know where you can get swedes from....


OK, so it is confirmed that MercaMadrid (effectively the single distribution market to all of the Madrid community) does NOT have swede. So the chances of finding one is a shop near me is virtually zero.

Thrax, can I ask you to get me the phone number of one of the shops near you that sells swede so that I can call them to try to get them to post me some?


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