Mangelwurzel
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Mangelwurzel or mangold wurzel (from German Mangel/Mangold, "chard" and Wurzel, "root"), also called mangold,<ref name="Wright">Wright, Clifford A. (2001) Mediterranean Vegetables: a cook's ABC of vegetables and their preparation in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and north Africa with more than 200 authentic recipes for the home cook Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Common Press, page 52, Template:ISBN</ref> mangel beet,<ref name="Wright" /> field beet,<ref>Raynbird, Hugh (1851) "On the Cultivation of Mangold-wurzel or Field-beet" Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland; New Series pp. 534–38, page 534</ref> fodder beet and (archaic) root of scarcity,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=EB1911>Template:Cite EB1911</ref> is a cultivated root vegetable. It is a variety of Beta vulgaris,<ref name=EB1911/> the same species that also contains the red beet (beetroot) and sugar beet varieties. The cultivar group is named Crassa Group.<ref name=MMPND>Template:Cite web</ref> Their large white, yellow or orange-yellow swollen roots were developed in the 18th century as a fodder crop for feeding livestock.
Uses
Contemporary use is primarily for cattle,<ref name=EB1911/> pig and other stock fodder, although it can be eaten—especially when young—by humans. Considered a crop for cool-temperate climates, the mangelwurzel sown in autumn can be grown as a winter crop in warm-temperate to subtropical climates. Both leaves and roots may be eaten. Leaves can be lightly steamed for salads or lightly boiled as a vegetable if treated like spinach or chard, which is a member of the same subspecies. Grown in well-dug, well-composted soil and watered regularly, the roots become tender, juicy, and flavourful. The roots are prepared boiled like potato for serving mashed, diced, or in sweet curries. Animals are known to thrive upon this plant; both its leaves and roots provide nutritious food. George Henderson, a 20th-century English farmer and author on agriculture, described mangel beets as one of the best fodders for dairying, as milk production is maximized.<ref name="Henderson_1943">Template:Citation The early editions of this book (1943 and 1956) are now collectible and expensive, but they have been republished in more affordable paperback and Kindle formats.</ref>
The mangelwurzel has a history in England of being used for sport ("mangold hurling"),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> for celebration, for animal fodder, and for the brewing of a potent alcoholic beverage. The 1830 Scottish cookbook The Practice of Cookery includes a recipe for a beer made with mangelwurzel.<ref>Dalgairns, Mrs. (1830) The Practice of Cookery: adapted to the business of every day life (third edition) Cadell & Company, Edinburgh, Scotland, page 498, Template:OCLC</ref> In 19th-century American usage, mangel beets were sometimes referred to as "mango".
During the Irish Famine (1845–1852), Poor Law Guardians in Galway City leased (on a 999-year-lease) an Template:Convert former nunnery to house 1,000 orphaned or deserted boys ages from five to about 15. Here, the boys were taught tailoring, shoe making, and agricultural skills. On a Template:Convert plot, they grew potatoes, cabbage, parsnips, carrots, onions, Swedish turnips, and "mangold wurtzel", both for workhouse consumption and for a cash crop.<ref name="Osbourne_1850">Template:Citation</ref>
Mangelwurzels are used as winter food for dairy cows, especially in New Zealand. Veterinarians used to believe that the plant contains too much oxalate for cattle to eat, but farmers found that very high amounts of grazed mangelwurzel killed only a very small portion of cows, with the rest thriving. It is now known that these deaths were due to rumen acidosis and had nothing to do with oxalate. Safer protocols to transition cows onto mangelwurzel feed were then provided, making the entire process quite safe.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
As with most foods, subsisting on solely one crop can produce dietary deficiency. The food shortages in Europe after World War I caused great hardships, including cases of mangel-wurzel disease, as relief workers called it. It was a consequence of eating only beets.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Growing requirements
In general, mangelwurzel are easy to grow. They may require supplementary potassium for optimum yields, flavour, and texture, and foliage readily displays potassium deficiency as interveinal chlorosis. This can be corrected with either organic or inorganic sources of potash.
Mangelwurzel is very susceptible to damage from frost.<ref name=EB1911/> It is suited to southern parts of England where the climate is too warm and dry for the successful cultivation of turnip.<ref name=EB1911/>
In popular culture
In South Somerset, on the last Thursday of October every year, Punkie Night is celebrated. Children carry around lanterns called "punkies", made from hollowed-out mangelwurzels. Mangelwurzels also are, or previously were, carved out for Halloween in Norfolk, Wales, parts of Yorkshire and northwest Cumberland (Workington) and Devon.Template:Cn
John Le Marchant, a British Army cavalry officer and swords instructor, recommended cutting the "mangel-wurzel" to learn the proper mechanics for a draw cut with the broadsword in his historic manual on swordsmanship.<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Page needed</ref>
In an early article in The Lancet, Thompson A and Minx M cite Mangelwurzel seeds as an effective relief for constipation when taken per anum (through the anus) after scoring the husk.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Mangelwurzel seeds were sent by Benjamin Rush to George Washington.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Worzel Gummidge, the protagonist in a series of children's books and television adaptations, is a scarecrow whose head is made from a mangelwurzel.
See also
References
Further reading
- Commerell, Abbé de Mémoire et instruction sur la culture, l’usage et les avantages de la racine de disette ou betterave champêtre, Paris : Impr. royale, 1786, 8vo., 24 p. / 1788, 4to., 15 p. / Paris : Buisson, 1786, 8vo., 44 p. / 1787 (3e éd.), 8vo., 47 p. / Metz : Impr. de Ve Antoine et fils, et Paris : Impr. de Ve Hérissant, 1786, 8vo., 40 p. / Paris : chez Onfroy et Petit, 1788, 8vo., 47 p. / édition raccourcie, Paris, Impr. royale, 1788, 4to., 15 p.
- --do.-- An Account of the Culture and Use of the Mangel Wurzel, or root of scarcity, London : C. Dilly, 1787, 8vo., 56 p. / 3rd ed. Edited by John Coakley Lettsom. London : C. Dilly, 1787, 8vo., xxxix, 51 p.
External links
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- The Guardian online report on Post Office closures, during which protesters used Mangelwurzel lanterns as a symbol of village tradition