Rutabaga

From Seed To Dinner Plate: How a Rutabaga Travels

From the dinner plate to the store or farmer’s market and back, the origins of our food can be a mystery. But have you ever stopped to consider the journey a food like a rutabaga may take before it becomes dinner? It’s a fascinating process to trace, so let’s take a look at how a rutabaga is created and travels to a dinner plate!

We’ll start with what a rutabaga is. Rutabaga, also known as swede, is a root vegetable closely related to the turnip. It is a type of Brassica oleracea, which is a species of plant in the same family as cabbage, kale, collard greens, and broccoli. A rutabaga is round, with a white-yellowish flesh under its purple-brown skin. It is often used as a substitute for potatoes, and also makes a delicious addition to stew and soup recipes.

The journey to the dinner plate for a rutabaga begins with a seed. To achieve the highest yield possible, vegetable farmers select high-quality seeds from reputable seed companies to plant in their fields. This particular type of seed usually has a higher germination rate, meaning it will be more successful in germinating and growing in the conditions of the farm.

Once the land is prepared, the farmers will sow the seeds. For maximum efficiency and minimum labor, they may use a mechanical planter. This contraption pushes the seeds deep into the earth, dispersing them evenly across the field. Some older, organic methods require sowing the seeds by hand, one by one, but this is often a time consuming process.

With the right combination of heat, sun, and water, the little seed will soon wake up and begin to sprout out of the soil. The rutabaga seedlings require a certain amount of hours of sunlight each day to grow properly, so farming in particular areas of the world where the temperature and light conditions are just right is important. They may also be given a bit of extra help, like fertilizer, watering, weeding and more, to assure an abundant, healthy harvest.

Once the rutabaga has sprouted and has begun to establish itself, the seedlings will develop into larger plants. The leaves of the plant then reach up and spread outward towards the sun. The rutabagas may receive additional nutrition through different types of fertilizers, like manure and compost, and finally begin the process of flowering and forming the root itself. This root is the edible, nutrient-filled part of the rutabaga!

When the rutabagas are ripe, it’s time for the harvest. Farm workers must carefully pull the rutabagas from the ground, taking care to not damage the delicate roots. This is done by either hand or with a harvesting machine. The harvested rutabagas are then bagged up, placed in bins, and brought to the sorting area. Here, the rutabagas are sorted and checked for quality, size, shape, and contamination.

Next, the bags and bins of sorted rutabaga go off to pre-cooling, where they are rapidly chilled in iced or cooled water. This process helps to slowly lower the temperature inside the vegetables, mitigating any spoilage or disease. They are then delivered to the packing house, where they are again scrutinized, washed, waxed, and packed in bags or boxes.

From the packing house, the rutabaga is transported to the store or market of your choice. Here it will be stored in coolers or refrigerators, awaiting purchase. When you bring home your rutabaga, it has now completed its journey from seed to dinner plate! Congratulations!

Now that you have your rutabaga, what’s next? You can peel and cube it up to add to a stew or soup, roast it with other vegetables, mash it with potatoes, or even make it into chips! How you choose to prepare your rutabaga is up to you. So enjoy getting creative in the kitchen and making something delicious with your rutabaga.

Though it’s almost impossible for us to follow the journey of every single vegetable we eat, it’s interesting to consider the process that a rutabaga must make before it lands on our dinner plate. From seed to harvest to store, a lot of work and detail has gone into making that rutabaga available to us!