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NEEPS
NEEPS - turnips, swedes or
rutabaga, depending on where you are when you are reading this - is one
of the traditional accompaniments to haggis on Burns Night.
The neeps are normally served mashed - but on their own, not mashed in
with the tatties. Whilst most folk willsimply mash the neeps unadorned,
some will add butter or even herbs.
The story goes that neeps - or brassica
rapa - were introduced to Scotland by Patrick Miller, an
entrepreneur and director of the Bank of Scotland, and the man who
brought the threshing mill and drill plough to Scotland.
Miller, who lived at Dalswinton, a Nithsdale village in Dumfries and
Gallowy, was also responsible for a couple of "firstrs", he designed an
arnament called the carronade, which was used in battle against the
French navy and in 1788, launched the world's first steamboat, on
Dalswinton Loch.
Miller was also Robert Burns's landlord.
King Gustav of Sweden supposedly sent the neep seeds tp Miller, hence
turnpis are called "swedes" south of the border.
TATTIES
For two weeks each October children
in Highland schools are set free from their classrooms to enjoy the
"tattie holidays", when the potatoes used to be harvested,
commonly called "tattie howking", from the fields.
These days few pupils will end up pulling spuds from the earth,
but the name still lives on.
According to the Scottish Agricultural College, 23,350 hectares of
Scotland were covered in potatoes in 2005, with another 11,446 hectares
being used to grow seed potatoes. Seed potatoes are small
potatoes that have at least one "eye" from which a new potato
plant can grow.
The bScottish Crop Research Institute, near Dundee, is
involved in developing new forms of potatoes, which are more resistant
to diseases.
HAGGIS
The chieftain o' the pudding race is Scotland's national dish,
It's the meal of choice for Scot's around the world on Burns's Night,
and is usually served with neeps and tatties and washed down with
a glass of Scotch Whisky.
Although some gullable non-Scots still believe that the haggis is
actually a living animal, and is hunted in the Highlands,
it is, in fact, man made.
Several different recipes exist for haggis, the usual suspects on the
list of ingredients include: the minced heart, liver and lungs of a
sheep, collectively known as its "pluck",; onion, oatmeal,
and suet, and spices, and salt for seasoning and flavour.
The ingredients are mixed together with stock and then boiled together
in the sheep's stomach.
Modern versions of haggis often substitute the sheep's stomach with an
artificial casing - much in the same way that sausages are now packaged.
According to McKean Foods, which sponsors the World Haggis Hurling
Championships, the record throw for a haggis was recorded by Alan
Pettigrew in August 1984, at Inchmurrin, on Loch Lomond.
Pettigrew hurled his 1lb 8oz haggis more than 180ft.
Haggis hurling sometimes takes place at Highland Games,
with the hurler standing on a barrel.
