Turnips and Rutabagas (Oh my!)

What's the difference between a turnip and a rutabaga? It's a question that has stumped folks for generations. They're both fleshy winter root vegetables, and they're often used together. I picked the particular specimens in the above picture to highlight the difference, but it's not always so obvious. (By the way, the one on the left is a turnip and the one on the right is a rutabaga.)

I'll start with the obvious. Rutabagas have thicker skins. You want to peel them more often than turnips, although you can get away with not peeling them, especially if they're on the small side. Rutabagas tend to be sweeter and turnips can be a bit bitter, although sometimes you find turnips that are every bit as sweet as rutabagas. Turnips have white flesh that gets almost translucent when you cook them, while rutabaga flesh is yellower. Turnips are ancient vegetables, while rutabagas were first bred as recently as the 18th century by crossing turnips and cabbages. So turnips and rutabagas are cousins.

The sweet, hairy Gilfeather turnip was bred by a native of southern Vermont who zealously trimmed the roots off his creations before he sold them so nobody else could propagate them. The variety has made it into Slow Food's venerable Ark of Taste, and the town of Wardsboro Vermont holds a Gilfeather Turnip Festival each year. As with most agricultural varieties, somebody else eventually managed to get their hands on some seeds, and now you find Gilfeathers everywhere from New York's Green Markets to Seattle farmers' markets. Only they're called "Gilfeather rutabagas" everywhere except in their home state.

I love the word "rutabaga." Sometimes I cook them at the markets just so that I can say it over and over when people ask what's in the veggie mix.