mangel-wurzel

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Mangelwurzel
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Caryophyllales Family: Amaranthaceae Subfamily: Chenopodioideae Genus: Beta Species: B. vulgaris
Binomial name
Beta vulgaris

Mangelwurzel or mangold wurzel (Beta vulgaris), is a root vegetable of the family Chenopodiaceae, genus Beta (the beets). Its large white, yellow or orange-yellow swollen roots were developed in the 1700s for feeding livestock.

Details

Contemporary use is primarily for cattle, pig and other stock feed, although this is recognised by conservers of heritage crops as being delicious eating. Considered a crop for cool-temperate climates, the mangelwurzel sown in autumn can be grown as a winter crop in warm-temperate to sub-tropical climates. Both leaves and roots may be eaten. Leaves can be lightly steamed for salads or lightly boiled as a vegetable if treated like English spinach. Grown in well-dug, well-composted soil and watered regularly, the roots become tender, juicy and flavoursome. The roots are prepared boiled like potato for serving mashed, diced or in sweet curries. Animals are known to thrive excellently upon this plant, both its leaves and roots providing a nutritious food. Mangelwurzel may require supplementary potassium (aka potash) for optimum yields, flavour and texture and foliage readily displays potassium deficiency as interveinal chlorosis. The name Mangel-wurzel comes from the German Mangel/Mangold, "chard", and Wurzel, "root".

The 1840 book "The Practice of Cookery" includes a recipe for a beer made with mangel wurzel.

In popular culture

The mangelwurzel has a history in England of being used for sport (mangold hurling), for celebration, for animal fodder and for the brewing of a potent alcoholic beverage.

A mangelwurzel hurling championship was revived in the north Wiltshire village of Sherston on October 7, 2006. Teams of three hurled mangelwurzels in turn, aiming to be the closest to a large leafless mangelwurzel known as 'the Norman'.

It is also the source of the name for the English folk/pop/comedy/scrumpy and western musical group The Wurzels.

Most city-dwellers in England have only the vaguest idea of what a mangelwurzel is, and tend to associate the vegetable with the stereotypical country bumpkin character in comedy. The word is even used as a double-entendre, for example by the character Rambling Syd Rumpo (Kenneth Williams). As usual, some entertainers from country towns embrace the stereotype, as above.

The mangelwurzel appears in George Orwell's Animal Farm, in the fourth stanza of the ballad "Beasts of England."

Children may encounter it in the book Muddle Earth (2003) by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell,^{[citation needed]} in which the mangelwurzel is both a major part of the diet and the principle form of currency (turnips and other vegetables are also acceptable) for trolls.

The mangelwurzel was mentioned prominently in the book Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins.

It also makes frequent appearances as a sheep's treat in the sheep detective novel Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann.

Tony Hancock (in Hancock's Half Hour) sang a song about mangelwurzels as he made his entrance as Old Joshua in the radio serial "The Bowmans".

In South Somerset, on the last Thursday of October every year, Punkie Night is celebrated. Children carry around lanterns called "Punkies", which are hollowed out mangelwurzels.

John Le Marchant recommends cutting the "mangel-wurzel" to learn the proper mechanics for a Draw Cut with the Broadsword in his historic manual.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Beta vulgaris

• Beet
• Beetroot
• Chard
• The British Scrumpy and Western band The Wurzels
• The British children's book and television character Worzel Gummidge
• World war 1914-1918 Germany etc the beet was grown of necessity as food for humans, as there was hunger caused by English sea blockade. Manger wurzel is mentioned in his recollection of POW life by Jack Rogers in the Prisoners of the Kaiser : The Last POWs of the Great War, editor Richard van Emden, published by Pen & Sword. ISBN 9781848840782

External links

• 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica article
• The Guardian online report on Post Office closures, during which protesters used Mangelwurzel lanterns as a symbol of village tradition

Look up mangel-wurzel in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.