Saturday 16 May 2009

Rhubarb & Rutabaga

I have sometimes mentioned that coming to England introduced me to a variety of foods I'd never encountered. Rhubarb is one of those. I met it when we had an allotment back around the turn of the century; it was already growing there when we inherited the plot. I thought of this because Dorothy, from the sewing group, has brought bunches of rhubarb from her husband's allotment and having taken a few stalks, I really must get busy and make a rhubarb and apple pie... And may I suggest that for a laugh you read the 'other uses of the word' in the link above?

Another food I never saw or heard of before was this really ugly looking thing:


which over here they call swede (it apparently originates from Sweden); it's a type of turnip. The green market where I shop routinely has a huge crate of them, from which you choose your own for only 25 pence. They are tough as anything to cut up, but when steamed and mashed swede turns a golden yellow and is delicious when mixed with mashed potatoes or mashed carrots.

What flabbergasted me was that when I Googled "swede vegetable" I learned that I had in fact heard of -- but never seen -- it. In the US it's called a rutabaga!

Another one of life's great mysteries solved...



4 comments:

Rick Stone said...

You never encounterd rhubarb when you were on this side of the pond? It almost grows wild here in Oklahoma. Not my cup of tea. Can't believe you are going to ruin some perfectly good apples by mixing them with rhubarb. What did those apples ever do to you? ;->

Shelley said...

Somebody must not have put enough sugar in!

Anonymous said...

We had rhubarb when I lived in Duluth, MN. As kids we would have a container of sugar in our pockets in the spring so we could take rhubarb out of neighbors gardens. When that crop was done, we started carrying salt and swiping apples off neighbors trees. I am glad my life of crime did not follow me to Oklahoma!
Joanne

Shelley said...

Sugar and salt in your pockets -- what a great story! Makes childhood sound much more fun than plopped in front of a video game...