Has anyone seen swedes for sale (in Zug or Zurich) as I fancy making/eating potch?
Many thanks
CW
I have only once seen swedes for sale in Switzerland and that was over 4 years ago. They are probably all being fed to the cows.
Best time to find them is around November. They use them to carve lanterns, similar to the pumpkin ones for Halloween.
Outside that short period, it's almost impossible to find, even directly from farms that actually had them in November.
This is the Kohlrabi (and you can get loads of those in all shops but they are normally not pink but white in the shops). What OP wants seems to be the "Bodenkohlrabi", also known as "Steckrübe".
According to this article , swedes are only found "by coincidence" these days. It's called the "war-vegetable".
An other idea: Did you try Lidl? I was very surprised what vegetables I can get there that the Swiss shops do not or only seldom offer me.
Ask the farmers for it and check the markets. You might be a bit late now, as Helm said. But if you show interest who knows what you get moving in your area?
I‘m interested to know what potch is? Will google.
Saw some in Lidl last week (I think....might have been Aldi). Although they don't seem to be a regular item.
No, these are not Kohlrabi. A kohlrabi (same name in English) is a white fleshed root vegetable, with a complete purple or green outside, and usually sprouts coming from the sides of the ball:
A Swede is a more white-yellowish toned flesh root vegetable with a gradient of purple to white on the outside:
The local Räbenlicht is done with swedes, not with kohlrabi. The kohlrabi has so many sprouts on the vegetable itself, it does not bode well with the carving.
They are usually available during October November in most supermarkets, including Coop, Aldi, Migros and Lidl, but are very difficult to find the rest of the year.
Kohlrabi is available almost the whole year.
The "Räbenliechtli" are not Kohlrabi (as I wrongly said) that's correct but not Swedes either. From the link I posted further up:
< (Swedes is not a well known vegetable. Better known are "Kohlrabi", which for example are served with dip with drinks or the "Herbstrübe", which the kids hollow out and carve on the outside for their "Räbenliechtli-march" in November). So what the kids use is the "Herbstrübe" which is not Swedes. But it might be close enough for the OP to use in the potch?
That is technically a turnip rather than a swede. Turnips have white flesh and swedes have yellow flesh. Swede is much more difficult to find here than turnip.
It's a dish of mashed potatoes and swede with a little milk, butter and pepper and salt. I didn't realise until last night that is a traditional Welsh dish.
There is something similar with mashed swede and carrot. I think that's known, inspiringly, as mashed swede and carrot. It's pretty good too.
We used to have both when i was a kid.
My mother used to do the mashed swede and carrot thing in an attempt to get my brother to eat any vegetable other than carrots or peas. It slightly backfired on her as he then decided he didn’t like cooked carrots either and would only eat them raw.
I do that with parsnips.
For the last few years I've been able to buy swedes from Spargelhof, a farm shop near Rafz. As was already mentioned, the season is very short. I saw them there in November & early December.
Be warned - in comparison with what you're probably used to, most of them are the size of tennis balls!
Just in case you're trying to get there this weekend, they're closed for renovation until the first weekend of March.
This was a Sunday supper staple for my Swedish grandparents who, just to add to the confusion, called the nutty yellow root veg in question rutabaga.
Mashed rutabaga and potatoes - a match made in down home Midwestern heaven.
(And thanks to this thread now I'm getting all nostalgic and really wish I could find some rutabaga here...)
We buy swede/turnip in the UK all the time. Love it chopped or mashed with carrot & parsnip in a little butter with tons of black pepper.
It is also good in soup.
I've seen them on and off at my local grocer back when I was living out in the sticks. Not so much in the city though.
We have a traditional recipe of them with kidney beans. Tasty and balanced.
It's an essential ingredient of the traditional Scottish dinner on Burns Night (haggis, neeps and tatties):
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/swede
I've been sold turnips when I had asked specifically for the orange/yellow texture inside. Are they called "rutabaga" in French speaking Switzerland? Because "navet suédois" certainly triggered some perplexed look!
Yes, well done!
OP, the website says it's in season - so it's not or never .... well or next year. The recipe for potch you can leave here
The forbidden link (for me, I always get so hungry reading that one)
Not lately though. Acmilan has deserted us