The Rutabaga Experiment

I rarely pass up the opportunity to try foods that seem out of the ordinary, but when it comes to vegetables I usually stick with the basics—potatoes, corn, green beans.  This is probably because those are the main vegetables that have always been served in my house.  My mom may throw in the occasional side dish of Brussel sprouts at the request of my sister, but that’s about as adventurous as I’ve ever been with my vegetable choices.

So, as I roamed around the produce section, I saw plenty of vegetables that I’ve never eaten; however, I only saw one that I had never heard of—the rutabaga.  It looked innocent enough—could’ve passed for a potato, so I grabbed a couple and decided to try it.

 

With a little research, I learned that the rutabaga (or swede) is a root vegetable that is a cross between a turnip and wild cabbage.  It is grown for both human and animal consumption, and is mainly grown in the Northern U.S. states and Europe, Britain, and Canada because it grows well in cold weather.

Like I said before, the rutabaga looks like a potato to me, so as I tried to decide how to eat it, I thought that maybe I could prepare it mashed.  When I looked for recipes, I found that there are actually quite a few ways that it can be served—mashed, roasted, stewed, even in a pudding.  They can be eaten raw, sliced with salt and pepper or chopped and sprinkled on a salad.  It turns out the rutabaga is a very functional vegetable.

I decided to go with mashed because I like mashed potatoes and found this recipe on southernfood.about.com:

2 lbs. of rutabaga

2-3 tablespoons butter

1-2 tablespoons of cream (optional)

Dash ground nutmeg (Being without nutmeg,

I used cinnamon substitute)

Salt and pepper to taste

 

 

First, I peeled the rutabaga and then cut it into cubes.  It was easier to peel than a potato because the skin had a kind of waxy feel, but the inside was hard and difficult to cut. I would suggest if you buy rutabaga, to get it with a flat side.  If it had been round, it would have really been difficult to chop.  I noticed a cauliflower-like smell as I peeled it.  My sister and I both decided to try a raw piece, and we agreed that it had a bitter taste and tasted like a broccoli stalk.

 

 

 Then, I put the chopped pieces in to a medium-sized pan with two teaspoons of salt, covered them with water, boiled them until they were soft enough to put a fork in to, and then drained them.  The main thing that I noticed while doing this was the smell.  The whole house was filled with that awful cauliflower/broccoli smell.

The last step was to mash the boiled rutabaga and the salt and pepper. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The finished product had the consistency of my mom’s mashed potatoes—mushy, a little lumpy, but still creamy.  The first flavor to hit me was the butter, and the aftertaste reminded of broccoli.  My sister really liked them, and I honestly did too.  Once prepared, they lost the bitter taste they had when I ate the raw piece. They had a more earthy, right out of the garden flavor than most potatoes, and I think they would be a healthier alternative.  Despite the smell, they tasted really good.  They were easy to prepare, and I do think I’ll have them again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Rattray, Diana. "How to Make Simple Mashed Rutabaga." Southernfood.about.com. About.com,   

     n.d.   Web. 23 July 2015.