Day One Hundred and Ninety Nine - Rutabaga

Dear all

Today, still on the subject of 'Root Veg' I learnt, with great hilarity, about the 'Rutabaga'.

I am now officially, 'soup-making obsessed', churning out a large homemade broth ever other day [poor D, he has so much to eat]. On my quest to branch out from my regular, potato/ carrot/ onion/ leek based combo, I found myself in the root veg isle in Metro and stumbled over [what I thought was ] a 'swede'.

Oddly enough, Metro didn't share my view and had labelled it the [brilliantly random] 'Rutabaga. 'What??' I pondered to myself, popped it in my basket and made my way home.

On arriving home, a chuckling Darren confirmed that the veg in question was the so-called 'Rutabaga', "don't you get those in bonnie England?' he asked quizzically. "Yes", I responded, but we call them 'SWEDE!"

Rutabaga are relatively low in calories, are a good source of Vitamin C and a source of fibre. They are understood to be a turnip-cabbage hybrid from Bohemia and originated in the early 1600s. Their growth is well suited to northern climates and it quickly spread to Britain and Scandinavia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga

Interestingly the name does come from the Swedish 'Rotbagga' and in Scotland, it is a popular accompaniment to haggis also known in the trade as 'haggis and neeps'.

So in the soup it went. I am sure the flavor will get masked by the numerous other veggies and lentil that went in, but its a great addition to any broth and the soup in question was extremely tasty!

And in other news:

1. Darren and I beat the line-up at Blockbuster and rented the newly released 'Iron Man 2'. It is awesome and worth it alone to watch Rourke, Rockwell and Downey Jn fight it out in this Marvel classic.