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At first I was going to title this post, “Rutabaga, It’s Not a Turnip,” a quote from Andrea Cheesman’s The Garden Fresh Vegetable Cookbook. But it didn’t quite give the rutabaga its due. While a wonderful veggie resource, in her section on rutabagas, Andrea seemed unable to mask her lack of enthusiasm for this week’s vegetable. Thankfully, I found the Advanced Rutabaga Studies Institute, and it wasn’t a front for a viagra site, as I’d originally feared. (Sorry ARSI.)
The Rutabaga is related to the turnip. To my untrained eye, purple top turnips and rutabagas are identical twins. The word rutabaga hails from the swedish words for “thick root.”
Rutabaga:
Purple Top Turnip:
According to ARSI, the rutabaga was the original jack-o-lantern, not on All Hallows Eve, but on “Hollow’s Eve.” As in, the spirits were coming for me so I hollowed out a rutabaga and stuck a coal in it to scare them off, thereby making the rutabaga “the fruit of subterranean darkness.” I was skeptical. But then I noticed the ARSI page The Rutabaga in Arts and Sports (New! With essential links!) I clicked on pictures from the Swiss Rabeliechtli festival. You HAVE to look at them (they are PG, I promise!)
Rutubagas, hundreds of them, hollowed out and carved with intricate designs, lit with a candle placed inside. They remind me of the candles I used to buy in high school for fifteen dollars from Urban Outfitters in Harvard Square because I thought it made me look cool.
I could have saved some cash and carved out a rutabaga instead.
The rutabaga’s popularity in Europe waned with the introduction of the potato. Not because the potato was a superior vegetable, ARSI posits, but perhaps because it was more easily converted to alcohol. Though I did read elsewhere that rutabagas are made into vodka in Poland. ARSI mourns the loss of “a staple in our diets, a tasty, inexpensive colorful nutritious root.”
I, for one, support ARSI in their quest to promote the forgotten rutabaga, especially after I tasted it for myself. It smelled like a turnip. After I peeled it, it looked just like a potato.
And after sensing Andrea Cheesman’s hesitancy for the rutabaga, I cut off a piece, closed my eyes, scrunched up my face, and took a small bite. I couldn’t believe it. Its sweetness was more like an apple. Rutabagas get sweeter after being exposed to a few fall frosts. I think my rutabagas must have been frosted to perfection.
I roasted the rest of the rutabaga after slicing it up, tossing it in oil, cinnamon, cumin, salt, and a dash of chili pepper.
My husband was impressed. When I asked him what he thought, he said, “I could eat this everyday,” which puts the rutabaga right up there with peanut butter in his book. And that’s saying something.
Be sure to visit ARSI and their blog The Rutabagan. Or, call the ARSI Hotline toll free at 1-87 RUTABAGA for breaking rutabaga news. Oh, and I almost forgot – check out ARSI’s Streaming Rutacam!
Want more veggies? Check out last week’s veggie story: May Your Kohlrabi Always Be Sweet. New veggie stories every Thursday.
Did you see last week’s market photos? Click here for Monday Dose of Market: Winter Veggie Vendor #2. New photos every Monday.
New to The Weekly Veggie? Read how it all began with My Childhood Vegetable Nemesis.
