To think that Tescos are ripping off Scots by selling teeny weeny neeps at 69p EACH

[bellissima]

Went down to get the essential 'puddin' and neeps yesterday. Even the woman at check-out raised an eyebrow at 69p each for turnips roughly three inches across. Tis disgosting.

(okay okay I'm really a Geordie. but we are talking solidarity here!)

what on earth is a neep?

A neep is what English people call a Swede

LOL,

Breaking news

"SUPERMARKETS CHARGE TOO MUCH FOR FOOD"

bellissima, sorry to take a light hearted mickey out of your post, but I think you'll find supermarkets have been ripping people off since they were invented. They haven't just decided to charge the scots extortionate prices for "neeps" (I think they're turnips)

You could always grow your own.

now i am confused, i am english and have never heard a swede called anything but a swede (admittedly its not a vegtable i talk about on a regular basis)

I can't grow a pot of basil on a window sill, let alone a turnip (or is that swede?). And yes I know they charge too much in general but this seemed like gross seasonal profiteering. Just as red roses will no doubt be five quid each in two weeks' time.

And apologies to one's Scottish neighbours for my linguistic failings. I do try ya kna pet. Tis bad enough when 'canny' means something completely different in wor languages .

oh, a swede then. Is 'puddin' haggis? - We need a translater for all you scots out there

this thread is making my head hurt

Up here, what English people call a Sweded we call a turnip - but nearly always shortened to neeps.

What you call a turnip, we just look at blankly.

But then the supermarkets came, and the neeps are now labelled Swede, and your tiny English turnips are labelled turnips....

It's an odd language, specially once we get our hands on it

Haggis tastes like shit

The haggis is in fact 'Great Chieftain' (?Chieftan) of the 'puddin race' ie presumably lords it over the Yorkshire and other varieties...

I should say that to one's 'furrin' DH there is no difference between turnips, swedes, parsnips etc al. They are all 'what we feed to cattle'.

And what's so great about Robert Burns anyway? That you have to dedicate a whole day and night to celebrating his existence? Wordsworth and Shakeaspear are miles better than him. And English too

What did he write? I bet it's a load of rubbish.

(Bellissima sees that she now has managed to light blue touch ethnic superiority contest paper and gets her Geordie arse out of here)

the origin of the word Swede is Swedish Turnip, hence it being neep in scotland.
it's swede in england because we alread y had a turnip and it might confuse us.

and 69p is a rip-off.

to my great shame i have just google imaged both swedes and turnips, they all look the same to me!

they do look like something you would throw rather than eat.

Tesco does that 1kg bag of seasonal veg for about £1.20 (sometimes £1 and sometimes BOGOF).
In it are a few carrots, a large swede, large parsnip and an onion or leek

looking at the bigger one, swede? it looks like you would have to boil it for about a year or risk loosing your teath

AMumInScoltand @ "What you call a turnip, we just look at blankly."

That sums it up in a nutshell!

BTW Lidl is selling Neeps aka swedes (6 inches across ) for 39p. And perfectly respectable 1lb haggises for 59p. Had one on Saturday but tonght we have slpashed out on a special "heritage limited edition lamb haggis" from M&S which was £4.99 (although it is a two pounder).

For serving with haggis, Swedes/neeps need to be dice relatively small, boiled for at least 40 minutes and then mashed/put through a potato ricer with a wee bit of butter and a generous amount of nutmeg, plus salt and pepper.

The sweetness contrasts nicely with the haggis, plus if you are unfortunate enough to have a dry haggis, the moistness helps too.

You don't cook Swedes whole though - you chop them and then boil them. And then mash them with a bit of butter and pepper.

We had haggis, neeps and tatties on Saturday. But were utterly sacriligeous and had a whisky cream sauce with it.

AMumInScotland. Personally don't like Whisky Cream sauces - but do know that they can be an excellent acompaniment to haggis - especially in higher class establsihments

Am going to just do it plain tonight and let the heritage lamb haggis shine on its own - it's the real caboodle in a proper "natural" casing rather than the more common (nowadays) plastic casing.

Will follow with a nice whisky and raspeberry cranachan.

My understanding is that the gaelic word for what we call a turnip is sneep (don't know if that's how to spell it..) and I would guess that neep comes from that. Any gaelic speakers out there??

I remember when neeps were huge, and cheap but now it's impossible to get a decent sized one.

No haggis for us tonight. I completely forgot about it but have the excuse of a broken ankle and 35wk pg bump......