Does shalgham cure a cough?

No. It soothes one. Warm sweet liquid coats a raw throat and eases the urge to cough, which is genuinely useful and isn't the same as treating the cause.

Can I use honey instead of rock candy?

Yes, and honey has slightly better evidence for cough in children over one. Stir it into the warm liquid rather than boiling it.

Old or oversized roots turn woody and bitter. Buy turnips no bigger than a fist.

Are the greens worth eating?

More than the root, nutritionally. Cook them like spinach with garlic and lemon.

Chapter 1 of 13

Turnip

If You Read Nothing Else

Boiled turnip with rock candy is the standard Persian home remedy for a winter cough.

It soothes a sore throat. There is no trial showing it shortens an infection, and honesty matters here.

One cup cooked carries around 2 g of fibre and a third of the day's vitamin C.

Shalgham is a cold-weather root, mild and faintly sweet once cooked, sharp and mustardy when raw. In Iran it belongs to winter in a way few vegetables belong to a season: street vendors sell it hot in paper cups from November, and every household has an opinion about how long to simmer it. The remedy is older than anyone can trace, and it survives because a hot, sweet, soft root genuinely soothes a raw throat.

Known to botanists as Brassica rapa.