Laurentian Rutabaga
Bred in Canada for sweet flavor, fine texture, and long keeping in winter storage. 5"-6" purple-topped roots with cream-colored flesh. A great choice for cold-winter zones.
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Rutabagas are one of the great crops too often missing from American gardens. They are often confused with turnips, but are more related to Russian kale. In flavor and uses they are more like carrots with a some brassica flavor. They are sweeter than turnips, and keep longer. They are tremendously high-yielding. Like potatoes, they make a lot of food that can be stored for the winter, and served roasted or mashed. They are also great raw, with a firm crunchy texture and sweet flavor that is great sliced with dip or shredded in slaw. Perfect for winter stews, and outstanding mashed with butter and black pepper (some people mix half and half with potatoes. Frost-hardy fall vegetable. LIke most hardy crops, they grow more slowly than less-hardy veggies like lettuce. They take about 3 months to mature. Not all of that time needs to be before frost, however. They will continue to grow and sweeten as long as the soil is above 40 degrees.