If you turned down the bitterness of turnips and turned up the sweetness with a creamier texture, you’d end up with a rutabaga. Rutabagas offer all the satisfaction of mashed potatoes while being significantly lower in carbohydrates and calories. Rutabagas can be roasted, mashed, boiled, and stir-fried—even spiralized and tossed with some olive oil, garlic, and pesto! These hearty root vegetables date back to the seventeenth century in Bohemia as a result of a turnip and wild cabbage joining forces. Rutabagas are not just nutritious and versatile, but they won’t break the bank either!
This article originally appeared on the Vitacost website on March 27, 2020
The Irish sometimes refer to this root vegetable as a “table turnip.” The English call it a ”swede” and in Scotland, it’s “neep.” This often-overlooked vegetable is known in the US as the rutabaga.
According to an article in Health Benefit Times, the rutabaga may have a history dating back to the seventeenth century in Bohemia when a turnip and a wild cabbage decided to join forces. Often mistaken for its ancestor, the turnip, don’t be fooled, there are big differences in the rutabaga.
What to look for
Select rutabaga with smooth skins that are firm, dense and heavy for their size. Sizes vary, from baseball to grapefruit and some more extreme. The smaller sizes tend to be firmer and sweeter. Avoid the ones with bruises, blemishes, soft spots, shoots or sprouts.
This cool weather crop is available in markets from fall through late winter/early spring. The most common variety of rutabaga available is the American Purple Top. The top upper part of the rutabaga has a purplish hue and yellow below with the inside flesh a deep golden color.
To keep the vegetable from drying out, they are commonly dipped in a thin coating of wax, which makes them more shelf stable. Look for hybrid or heirloom varieties at your local farm market. Ruta-Bits rutabaga are a smaller, thinner skinned variety.
If you are lucky enough to find rutabaga with leaves intact, don’t throw them away. Those green leafy tops, similar to turnip greens are delicious in a raw salad (particularly the smaller and tender shoots). Or you can cook larger leaves as you would other leafy greens.
Flavor and nutrition
If the bitter flavor of turnips is a turn-off, the sweeter and creamier texture of the rutabaga will entice you to give it a try. Looking to dial back on your carbohydrate intake? Rutabaga have that satisfying mashed potato flavor and are significantly lower in carbohydrates and calories.
Consider this, a one-cup serving of rutabaga is 52 calories with 11.6 g of carbohydrates compared to a 1 cup serving of boiled potato at 136 calories and 31 g of carbohydrates.
Rutabaga make a great substitute for potatoes in many of your favorite dishes.
Rich in vitamin C, a one-cup serving provides 50 percent of the recommended daily allowance for an adult. They also provide significant amounts of potassium, a crucial mineral for the proper function of all cells, tissues and organs, according to Dr. Axe, doctor of natural medicine and nutritionist. And, if that wasn’t enough, these creamy yellow tubers are one of the densest sources of dietary fiber that helps to promote bowel regularity.
How to cook them
There are countless delicious ways to prepare rutabaga including roasting, mashing, boiling and stir-frying.
- Add chunks of rutabaga to your favorite meat or vegetarian stew along with other root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips and onions.
- Mash cooked rutabaga with ghee or butter-flavored coconut oil and a pinch of salt for a simple side dish.
- Get fancy with your mash by combining fruits and seasonings. Try rutabaga, pears and ginger or rutabaga, grated local apples, caramelized onion and cinnamon.
- Top rutabaga mash with crispy bacon or vegan crumbles.
- Turn your rutabaga into a creamy soup, add in vegetable or chicken stock, nutmeg and finish with coconut cream.
- How about spiralized rutabaga tossed with olive oil, garlic and pesto? Yum!
RECIPE: Rutabaga Oven Fries
Toss peeled rutabaga cut into small dice or French fry shape with avocado oil and toss with your lemon-garlic spice blend or keep it simple with salt & fresh ground pepper. Bake on sheet pan at 400 degrees F. until crispy.
Remember what I said earlier about the leaves? If you are lucky enough to purchase them with the leaves intact, cut off the tough stems, chop up the leaves and sauté with garlic.
Tips and tricks
- Store rutabaga in plastic bags in the produce drawer of your refrigerator for up to 1-2 months, or, in a cool and dark, root cellar if you are lucky to have one available.
- Take advantage of the versatility of rutabaga when doing your meal planning and use it in a variety of different ways to shake up your routine.
- Wash, peel and chop rutabaga in slice or cubes and blanch in salted boiling water. Leave rutabaga in pieces or mashed. Freeze for up to 6 months.
- Waxed rutabagas can be a little tricky to handle when cutting or peeling. Cut root and leaf end of rutabaga off so rutabaga sits flat and securely on cutting board. Use a sharp knife or serrated knife to cut peel off, following the shape of the rutabaga. I prefer a serrated knife as the flesh is hard and sometimes the knife slips on the outside peel. Keep those fingers and knuckles out of the way.
If all the powerhouse nutritional properties and drool-worthy combinations aren’t enough to convince you to try this humble root vegetable, consider the price tag. This is one ingredient that won’t break the bank!
This article originally appeared on the Vitacost website on March 27, 2020