Growing and Cooking Rutabagas: The Every-Person Root

Consider growing and cooking rutabagas this year, for an easy way to give your dinner some roots. Mash them, slice them or throw them in a casserole. These unique vegetables will win you over.

By Stephen D. Carpenteri
Published on October 7, 2011
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The rutabaga is a cross between a cabbage and a turnip, and its name literally means
The rutabaga is a cross between a cabbage and a turnip, and its name literally means "root bag."
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Generally considered a substitute or complement for potatoes, rutabagas are big, solid vegetables with very little waste.
Generally considered a substitute or complement for potatoes, rutabagas are big, solid vegetables with very little waste.
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Though most are purple-collared, rutabaga varieties with green collars are available. These are a French variety called Jaune Collet Vert.
Though most are purple-collared, rutabaga varieties with green collars are available. These are a French variety called Jaune Collet Vert.

Imagine some curious Swede purposely crossing a cabbage and a turnip, and then naming the result “root bag.” Sad to say, that is the historic truth behind the creation of our beloved rutabaga, one of the simplest, most useful (and edible) plants in today’s truck garden. Try growing rutabagas and even cooking rutabagas on time, and you might just be won over for life.

It’s surprising that a simple plant, so fat and round, could be confused with anything else, but such is the case with the rutabaga, which some folks call or think of as a turnip, when in fact a turnip is literally a horse of a different color. For additional confusion, consider that the rutabaga is referred to as “Swede” in much of Eastern Europe. It’s a Swedish turnip or yellow turnip in the United States and turnip in Ireland, but in Scotland it’s called “neep.” In northeastern England, turnips and rutabagas are called “snaggers,” so citizens there won’t confuse them with another large beet known as a mangel-wurzel.

If you have a complete genetic testing lab in your home and are still stymied by the differences between turnips and rutabagas, keep in mind that turnips have 20 chromosomes and rutabagas have 38 chromosomes (20 from their turnip ancestors and 18 from the cabbage side of the family). Lacking such equipment, just remember that, with a couple of exceptions (naturally), true turnips are small and white-fleshed while rutabagas are big and yellow-fleshed. But rest easy, there won’t be a quiz on this.

Telling a turnip from a rutabaga

The true turnip (which has been around for thousands of years and even grows wild in cooler places like Siberia) is fist-sized, bright purple on top and creamy white on the bottom. True turnips are easy to grow, mature in about eight weeks, and are popular spring plants grown as much for their tasty leafy greens as for their sweet white flesh.

The rutabaga, only created and noted since around 1620, requires up to 12 weeks to mature. It is a true fall crop that grows best during the cooler autumn and winter months. Rutabagas, which are dark purple on top with a yellowish bottom, are much larger than turnips (the world-record rutabaga weighs 77.8 pounds) and also provide tasty greens for the table.

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