Over the summer, we asked our CSA baskets WTF was going on inside them. Now, in the dead of winter, we don't have a farm-shares to yell at, but we realized that there were still vegetables in need of interrogation. Today, we want to shine the spotlight on a lesser-loved root vegetable that gets lonely in the cellar -- the rutabaga.
You've definitely seen a rutabaga before, but you might have mistaken it for a turnip. You wouldn't be alone. Rutabagas and turnips look incredibly similar. In fact, the rutabaga is often called a Swede or Swedish turnip and is actually a cross between a white turnip and cabbage. The resulting root vegetable is yellowish in color, starchier and sweeter than a turnip, but more tender than a potato. This means that the rutabaga lends itself to any preparation you would use a potato, turnip or sweet potato for. They are great mashed, purￃﾩed into soup, roasted or shaved raw into a salad.
We've got a few more months of winter vegetables ahead of us, so why not give the rutabaga a try?
