What the Heck is a Rutabaga?

[ncboman]

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/wp-content/plugins/simple-post-thumbnails/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/thumbnails/3204.jpg&w=320&h=240&zc=1&ft=jpg

A rutabaga, also know as the yellow turnip or swede (short for “Swedish turnip”), is a large root vegetable with edible leaves. It was originally cultivated as a cross between a cabbage and a turnip. Its unusual name comes from the Swedish word “rotabagge,” which literally mean “root ram” (just don’t ask us what “root ram means!).

Rutabaga remains a popular staple food in Sweden, Finland, and Norway, where the long winters are ideal for growing root vegetables, and not much else. It is most often eaten mashed – sometimes with potatoes and carrots – or baked into casseroles. It is also a popular component in Scandinavian soups.

Why not expand your horizons and try some today?

web page (http://www.farmersalmanac.com/food/2009/06/29/what-the-heck-is-a-rutabaga/)

[Bushman]

NC, mom used to feed us those often enough so that at least we knew what they were. Actually they aren't half bad mashed. She was often into giving us "new taste experiences" as she called them with some being way more successful than others. As kids, the dog was never far from our sides during meal time. I surmise that the grown in areas "where long winters are ideal for growing root vegetables, and not much else" might have come into play in her choices. I can't say that I ever had a collard green that you guys from down south talk about and those grits must be an acquired taste that take a lot of getting use to.

[Greywolf]

mash em up with carrots and a pile of butter, add plenty black pepper, eat everything in front of you, kill everything behind you..lol

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I like em. There's not many things I don't like to eat that are grown in a garden.

Alan

[apples]

Mom always made them with yams. She'd get a couple cans of sweet potatoes for sweet potato casserole, and then she'd make another casserole with rutabagas and whole yams, topped with pumpkin spice (I don't know what's in it, ginger, nutmeg and some others I guess) and crushed pecans. Very unique flavor.

[Dominik]

Hello guys....!
My GF is trying to get me to try more vegetables so she's been cooking all this nasty stuff like spinach, lima beans, squash, broccoli. But TODAY -- today she cooks this **** called rutabaga. WTF?? It smells like burning tire! It smells worse than my feet. What IS this stuff? Do humans actually eat this or is she just playing a cruel joke on me.Please answer while I walk to Subway and buy a meatball sandwich.Thanks in advance...!

[mack]

The Lord made rutabagas so that parsnips would taste better than something.

[Greywolf]

Yea, come to think of it, if you look at a lot of things that grow in the garden, it just goes to say that the Good Lord has a sense of humor.
But it's true, anything that grows or crawls or walks, has some way of being put on a plate,most are OK, but some you can only do once.
Always let the guy across the table go first.