Recently, while consuming a nice side of mashed rutabagas, it was brought up by some less than enthralled participant that this root crop consumption was nothing more than eating famine food. Was this an insult? I once was told by our German exchange student that eating sauerkraut was for the lower class individual that could not find his way to purchase better fare. He lifted his nose at my hand crafted kraut.
Well, I thought about that and did realize that most of the root crops, maybe excluding the noble potato, are not widely appreciated. It would seem they are rather base, rather dirty, underground dwelling fare. At the same time they grow like the dickens, are easily stored and many of them are loaded with nutrients of all sorts.
Jake and I, only a few day's ago, harvested seven rutabagas, just seven because most of our immediate friends and family are particularly adverse to this elegant root. But what brings attention is the size of these things and how only those seven could hold off a famine all by themselves. The one pictured probably weighed some eight pounds, had almost no worms and when cooked would power me through a couple of days of good wood cutting.
Now I know some will say, "Just what does one do with a rutabaga of this size?" It can't all be eaten in one sitting and even the largest admirer would probably hesitate to conquer one of these brutes. They don't freeze well and if left idle will eventually wither and no longer have the ability to fight the famine. Dry them? Rutabaga chips? Canned rutas?
Ok, so there are issues. I have considered a rutabaga festival where the entire crop is set forth in many forms and thereby hold off starvation for the entire community for a few days. You say, "But nobody is starving."
Well, they still taste good in moderation and knowing they are there is like having a form of money in the bank, not real good money (or as Ann would say, "Chump change") but still a form of wealth. I'm not going to give up on them even if I am overweight.
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