Small, it’s been said, is beautiful, and that’s particularly true when it comes to turnips. While baby turnips still have the root’s trademark horseradishlike kick, they’re far sweeter and juicier than their more mature counterparts.

“When you think of a turnip, you think of a big, gnarly baseball for feeding a horse,” says Joe Schirmer of Dirty Girl Produce. “The little ones are unexpected. You can prepare them like any other turnip—roast them, purée them, add them to mashed potatoes—but you can also eat them raw.”

Many local chefs are so taken with the taste, versatility, and cute factor of the little guys that they’ve sworn off the larger ones: “Golf ball size is as big as we go,” says Laurence Jossel, Nopa’s executive chef.

AT THE MARKET
Turnips are grown year-round in the Bay Area, but sales pick up in the fall. The purple-topped turnip (pictured) is the quintessential American variety, and the Milan is shaped like a cipollini onion. The snow-white Tokyo (also pictured) is the industry darling—it’s the sweetest and has the texture of a water chestnut—while the Japanese scarlet turnip is almost identical to the Tokyo but has a brilliant red skin. (These two are great for pickling.) But the most unusual is the gold turnip, which is denser and requires longer cooking.

Don’t waste your time foraging through the bin looking for the perfect turnip: “As long as it’s not rotting, it’s good to eat,” says Grant Bryant of Heirloom Organic Gardens.

If the greens are still attached, then the turnip was picked within the last week. These extremely nutritious leaves are edible, but you’ll want to use them up quickly, as their shelf life is just a few days. Turnips without greens can be refrigerated in a container with a dry cloth on the bottom and a wet cloth on top. Like potatoes, they’ll keep for weeks and are good to eat as long as they haven’t turned mushy.

ON THE MENU
At Nopa (560 Divisadero St., S.F., 415-864-8643), Jossel serves glazed baby turnips tossed with their own tender greens as a side dish.

The turnips served at Ubuntu (1140 Main St., Napa, 707-251-5656) begin their life in the restaurant’s garden. Once they’ve made the short trip from the field to the kitchen, executive chef Jeremy Fox caramelizes them lightly in garlic oil and serves them on a bed of puréed apples and onions with sage leaves and mustard sauce.

Turnips take a star turn at Manresa (320 Village Ln., Los Gatos, 408-354-4300), where executive chef and owner David Kinch pairs caviar with root vegetables dressed in a sauce made from turnips simmered in milk. Kinch likes the way salt plays off the root’s earthiness—he also offers black olive–studded madeleines alongside turnip soup, and he tosses Tokyo turnips in a pesto made from seaweed. “There’s a surprising synergy between seaweed and turnips,” he notes.

IN THE KITCHEN
For the brunch menu at Ad Hoc (6476 Washington St., Yountville, 707-944-2487), chef de cuisine David Cruz adds turnips to potato-hash cakes for a surprisingly sweet result. “We love to add another dimension to something as basic as a potato cake,” he says. To make it, combine 3 parts peeled and grated russet potato and 1 part grated turnip. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat clarified butter or duck fat in a 6- or 8-inch nonstick frying pan and add the turnip/potato mixture in a 1-inch layer across the pan. Cook until crusty, and flip the cake. It should be creamy on the inside. Cut into wedges and serve with garlic purée, a simple aioli, or applesauce.