Rutabagas!

[Ruth_10]

You must try okra. Be warned: it is a big plant. Some varieties are very tall (15 ft?) and some are branching and wide. The complaint about okra is that it is slimy when cooked. The slime doesn't bother me. I can take it. My favorite way to eat okra is to pop it into boiling water for about 5 min, then drain. Don't overcook it. Sprinkle some salt on it, then slice up a nice tomato into chunks and take a bit of okra and then a bite of tomato. The flavors are very complimentary and the acid of the tomato helps cut the okra slime. It is one of my favorite lunch dishes when tomatoes are in high season and the okra is going strong, too.

For those of you who haven't grown okra before, it is best picked when very young, no more than 3". After that it gets tough. It also grows about an inch a day. It is a member of the hibiscus family and is worth growing if only for the flowers.

Parsnips, like good carrots, are high in sugars and caramelize exceptionally well when roasted. Very tasty.

[Tormato]

I placed an order for rutabaga seeds (Wilhelmsburger variety) several days ago. This will be my first year planting it. So, I'll probably have lots of seed left over.
Nudge, nudge,,.

Gary

[justplayin123]

I have never tried rutabaga but think I will after this. It will be my "try something new this year". Is it easy to grow?
I do love okra... I just do not like to pick it. Be warned... wear long sleeves!

[stormymater]

Whenever I see/hear rutabaga it makes me hear the beloved Frank Zappa crooning, "Ruda ba-a-aga, Ruba-baa-a-aga"...then breaking into the "Call any vegetable, call it by name..."
Makes me chuckle & remember many hours of misspent youth in the summer.

[svalli]

This thread reminded me that I have to buy rutabaga seeds. Root vegetables are the best ones to grow here, since the summer is too cold to grow something like okra. Rutabaga does not cost a lot in stores and is well available, so home gardeners here do not ususally grow it. I like them raw and cooked. Here is my favorite recipe for rutabaga:
http://www.finnguide.fi/finnishrecip...sp?c=1&t=2&p=8

[Worth1]

Rutabagas are higher than a cats back around here and I'm glad mine are doing just fine.

I have to admit one time I purchased some at the store and they mistakenly priced them as turnips which are much lower in price.

I let the store take the loss because I was already home.

Svalli,
That looks great, rutabagas with cream and molasses.

Worth

[montanamato]

Worth....Never had a rutabaga, but roasted parsnips are up there in my favorite all time things to eat...We get root maggot in just about every root crop except carrots, and if I leave them in the ground all fall, the huge yellow carrots sometimes get some, so I don't grow anything underground besides beets and carrots...

Jeanne

[piegirl]

Just dug the late of my parsnips about two weeks ago. One of my favs - they winter over nicely, growing fast and sassy, and sweeter. If you parboil, then slice, they can be successfully frozen. Parsnips are definitely not a bland carrot and you may be put off by the cooking aroma - they are rather aromatic! May have to try rutabagas. I have grown turnips for the greens for a friend's mom. piegirl

[tjg911]

they keep very well, all winter and are good mixed with potatoes and mashed.

now for the surprise, i never thought anyone would grow rutabagas in the south. rutabagas are a northern crop, so i always thought. they get sweeter after frosts, i let mine sit until mid november to get several hard freezes. so since you don't (do you?) get frosts and freezes in the south are your rutabagas sweet?

tom

[Worth1]

Tom I have never grown them down here and yes we do get frosts and freezes around Austin.
Sometimes very hard like in the single digits and sometimes none at all.

Texas is a large state with many climates from swamp to high plains desert and everything in between.
It gets confusing sometimes on the weather report.

We have a possible freeze warning in the hill country this Monday but I wont get it 40 miles away.

Worth

[tjg911]

yeah i hear from time to time that deep southern states have frost/freeze issues but i suspect it is rare and can't be counted on. and yes, texas is huge and probably has every type of weather even similar to up here as far as cold and snow just not as prolonged as our winter. i just did not think people in the deep south could rely upon a frost to sweeten rutabagas, parsnips, carrots and broccoli.

i never ate a rutabaga that had not experienced many frosts and some freezes so i can't say how much they sweeten up but i've read it so much that i accept that frosts do change the starches into sugars. so for the reason that some parts of the deep south seldom experience a frost, i wondered if you just did not care whether the rutabagas would be sweetened by a frost.

tom

[Worth1]

I suspect I should have planted them in October but what the heck, it is only about a $2.00 tossup to see what they will do.

Living down here is painful sometimes because I was raised up in Mo and Ok and we raised apples, cherries and such.
And then the falls were just fantastic.

What I don't miss is going out in 0 degree weather at night with the wind blowing at 40 miles an hour to save a calf from freezing in the snow.

Worth

[Polar_Lace]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Parsnips don't taste anything like a carrot, nothing at all, you cant even eat them raw.Worth

Not eating your Parsnips Raw? surprised:

What on Earth? I love Raw Parsnips, they're sweet and firm. To me they've always tasted that way. They're great in juices too.

~* Robin

[Worth1]

Robin I tried them raw from the store and they were hard to Chew, "even for my goat like standards".

We grew them when I was younger and I am sure I ate them raw because I ate everything raw when I was a kid.
I would even crack open a prune seed and eat it.
Peanut hulls, I would eat them too.
apple cores,
centers of a corn cob,
the core of a cabbage,
We had plenty to eat but like I said, I was and still am part goat.
It would shock my parents to see there was nothing left on my plate and then they would see me walk off chewing on a bone like a dog.

I tried a raw rutabaga from the garden yesterday and it was fabulous, very sweet, it was only about the size of a golf
ball.

Worth

[Polar_Lace]

Ya Worth, I still eat raw turnips like apples and raw corn on the cob these days, I'm glad I still have my own teeth! My dad had his own teeth at 78 when he died last June 2008.

~* Robin