“Hold on, man. We don’t go anywhere with ‘scary,’ ‘spooky,’ ‘haunted,’ or ‘forbidden’ in the title!”

The clocks have gone back and the gates of hell are about to be opened, unleashing an army of ghouls, zombies and witches that will take over our high streets and town centres before vanishing again just as quickly.

It is, of course, Halloween on Saturday but did you know that revellers are being encouraged to put down the pumpkin and turn to the turnip?

Inclement weather has seemingly caused a shortage of pumpkins which has led to English Heritage calling on people to turn the clocks even further back and take their knives and utensils to turnips instead.

Long, long before the pumpkins were carved to provide Halloween decorations, people from all corners of the British Isles were carving grotesque faces into turnips in order to protect themselves from the evil spirits that would roam the alleys, causing mischief and mayhem.

According to lore, the practice of vegetable carving originated from a folk tale that was about a man named Jack successfully duped the Devil on a number of occasions. However Jack’s luck ran out and when he died he was barred entry to Heaven, due to his dishonesty. The Devil then sent Jack’s soul back to earth armed only with a burning coal in a carved out turnip to light his way.

But when the story made its way over the Atlantic and to the United States, the people found out that pumpkin is much easier to carve and so they became the object of choice.

Speaking on the topic, English Heritage’s Dr Michael Carter said: “Hopefully people will remember the turnip and all our other rich traditions.

“From carved pumpkins to trick or treating, many of the traditions associated with Halloween today come from early European folklore, rather than simply being American inventions.”

And what better way to celebrate Halloween than by serving up turnip gratin this weekend?

Turnip gratin

Ingredients

• 350g turnip – Peeled and sliced
• 50g cured ham – thinly cut into strips
• 150ml double cream
• 25g butter
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tsp dried, mixed herbs
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Method

• Parboil the turnip for two minutes. Drain.
• Rub two ramekins with the garlic. Let it dry and butter.
• Place the sliced turnip into a saucepan, add cream, herbs, ham, salt and pepper and simmer.
• Add the turnip mixture into the ramekins and grill until lightly browned

Turnip 2622027. CC BY 2.0