Turnip Sales Grow as Crunch Bites

Sales of turnips have rocketed in the past 12 months as families hit by rising prices look for affordable alternatives to more expensive vegetables, such as purple sprouting broccoli and baby sweetcorn.

The turnip, a favourite of Baldrick, the downtrodden manservant from the television comedy Blackadder, is an unlikely candidate for a culinary comeback. Generations were traumatised by being forced to eat it under wartime rationing. However, modern chefs, including Gordon Ramsey, Delia Smith and Jamie Oliver, have used the root vegetable in their recipes.

Tesco reported sales of turnips have risen by 75 per cent in the past year.