Featured Norwegian Product, #2: The Rutabaga

Rutabaga. Swede. Yellow Turnip. Rotabagge. Neep. Snaggers. Kålrot. Kålroe. Kålrabi.  Brassica napobrassica…..

Dear children have many names.

 

Over a year ago, I decided to start a little series called “Featured Norwegian Products”. The idea was to highlight Norwegian foods that are very basic to the Norwegian diet, yet are perhaps a little unknown to the rest of the world. The first installment in that series was brunost, Norwegian brown cheese. And then the second installment was... non-existent.

Until today!

Allow me to present to all of you a very good friend in our household, the rutabaga. Not American? Check the list above for other dialectal names for this humble, humble root vegetable and you’re sure to find something familiar. Unless you work at the check out of an American grocery store, in which case, you have no idea what that gnarly lump is and why I’m trying to buy it.

In all fairness, the rutabaga is not exactly a “Norwegian product”. I mean, not in the way that cod liver oil or cured reindeer meat might be. But the way that Norwegians put back a plate of rutabaga (kålrabi/kålrot “cabbage root” as they’re known here) on an average weekday night, it might as well be.

 

Fun rutabaga facts!

 

-Rutabagas originated as a cross between the cabbage and turnip

-Although considered a root vegetable,  rutabaga leaves can be eaten, making it also a leaf vegetable

-The first printed reference to the rutabaga comes from the Swiss botanist, Gaspard Bauhin in 1620, where he noted that it was growing wild in Sweden

-Rutabagas started growing in the royal English gardens as early as 1669

-Rutabags have been carved out and used as candle lanterns in windows to ward off harmful spirits since early Halloween festivals in Ireland and Scotland

-Although typically weighing around 1 kilo (just over 2 lbs), some rutabagas can way up to 4 kilos (9 lbs)!

-Because it is so rich in Vitamin C, the rutabaga has been called “The Orange of the North”

 

A lot of people have negative connotations with the rutabagas. They think it’s bitter. They think it’s plain. They think it’s something to feed farm animals and people without taste buds. Oh, but these people are wrong! Or maybe they’ve just never had a decently prepared rutabaga dish. Which is why I’m here to help by bringing light to this underrated,  misunderstood, homely root vegetable.

 

Stay tuned for Kålrabigrateng, Baked Rutabaga Casserole and a few other Rutabaga delights!

Comments

[Ouiandno]

I love rutabagas.
As a matter of fact I have done a Squidoo lens on them;

http://www.squidoo.com/rutabagas

Marie

[Jon]

Fortunate to have a Norwegian father, I grew up in the middle Atlantic states with rutabaga (practically imported there). Fortunately, also, my Midwestern wife loves them. I must be the luckiest man alive!

[Britta Hansen]

We just made rutabaga mash (with potatoes) and saved the rest to toss into our venison stew (along with a bottle of stout). Twas a nice weekend up at the lake!

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