What are these?

ander217 11/8/2010, 5:25 am

I thought I had planted Laurentian rutabagas in one square of a bed. I picked a couple of them yesterday but they don't look like any rutabagas I've ever seen. They taste like turnips when cooked, and they are not golden in color like rutabagas, but white like turnips. But the shape isn't like a turnip. Does anyone know what I have?

(I placed a stick of gum next to the larger one to give an idea of the size, and I placed a purple-top turnip between them to show the difference in my turnips and these two veggies.)

**Furbalsmom** 11/8/2010, 1:02 pm

When I looked at Reimer Seeds, they described Laurentian Rutabagas with a purple top and creamy yellow bottom, but their picture looked pretty white on the bottom.
Baker Creek shows them with a really yellow bottom.
New England Seed picture looks more like your picture.
One set of photos from University of Illinois showed rutabagas as longer and turnips more globe round.
It's always fun to see what things grow into in local areas, because they do not always look the same as the photos from seed companies.
Sorry I can't tell you if this really is a Laurentian or not.

University of Illinois

Reimer

New England Seed

**WardinWake** 11/8/2010, 2:21 pm

Furbalsmom wrote:
It's always fun to see what things grow into in local areas, because they do not always look the same as the photos from seed companies.

LOL...I have to agree that plants do not always look the same as the photos from seed companies. I don't think I have ever grown anything that looked just like their catalog picture!

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

ander217 11/8/2010, 5:56 pm

I did some more research online. It seems that rutabaga leaves are bluer and flat, more like cabbage, while turnip leaves are prickly and lighter green. All of the greens of the three roots pictured had the same kind of leaves which looked like turnip greens to me.

But I cannot find any turnip variety for sale that looks like these. I know the photos don't always look like the real thing, but they usually have a resemblance. These don't. But I definitely think they are a turnip. My Laurentian rutabaga seed came from Baker Creek and the photo of their Laurentian rutabaga looks purple on top and golden yellow on the bottom, just like a rutabaga is supposed to look. I do have a packet of Golden Globe turnips from Baker Creek, but I raised some last year and they didn't look like these, either. They had a gold-colored flesh. These were white when peeled and cooked.

I guess it remains a mystery.

Megan 11/8/2010, 6:28 pm

Email the photo to Baker Creek and ask?

ander217 11/8/2010, 8:01 pm

Good idea, Megan. I'll give it a try.

LaFee 11/12/2010, 2:56 pm

Stop the presses!

I was at my local market Wednesday, and one of the maraichers (local producers, as opposed to resellers) had bunches and bunches of those -- it IS a turnip!

I can't give you a variety, as they were marked simply "navets" (turnips) -- but they were exactly like your photo.

If I go again on Sunday, I'll try to get a photo and ask them what variety they are.

ander217 11/12/2010, 6:44 pm

Your timing is perfect, LaFee. I wrote to Baker Creek and asked them if they knew what the large root was. They wrote back and offered to give me a refund or exchange since I didn't get what I ordered. I told them I didn't need it because I liked what I received, I just wondered what they were in case I wanted to order them again. This was the reply I received today:

"LeAnn, I believe the larger turnip is the Navet des Vertus Mareau turnip. I have grown them and they are less woody and mild, and some of mine grew larger than the description.
Pam

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company
2278 Baker Creek Road"

**Furbalsmom** 11/12/2010, 6:53 pm

Nice to know that Baker Creek is so responsive.

Did you enjoy them when you cooked them? Now that you know what they are, do you think you will buy them again, or do you still have a bunch of seed left?

ander217 11/13/2010, 7:21 am

I really liked them, Furbalsmom. These had a milder flavor than purple-top turnips. I boiled them with a little bacon grease and they were very good, but I plan to add some to a roasted winter veggie mix for Thanksgiving dinner. I think they will be even better when roasted.

The only explanation I can find is that Baker Creek mislabeled this seed as rutabagas, but I'm not unhappy about it because I've found a new turnip variety I would probably never have tried on my own. I will plant another square of them next year and then I'll have the proof for certain. Their catalog describes Navet Des Vertus Marteau as having tender, white cylindrical roots, 5" - 6" long and 2" in diameter, very mild and sweet flavored. It's an old French heirloom variety. (My larger root was over 3" in diameter but it was grown in a very rich bed.)

**Furbalsmom** 11/13/2010, 12:11 pm

I do enjoy roasted turnips, they taste pretty sweet. Does anyone else like raw turnips? I just peel and dice them and throw them in a salad or I peel and cut them into strips to just munch on.
It has been so long since I have eaten rutabegas (sp?) I don't remember if I like them or not.

Megan 11/13/2010, 6:31 pm

I have never tried turnips raw, but I am going to next time I come across some that look nice.

I have a hard time telling turnips and rutabagas apart, taste-wise. The rutabagas may be a little sweeter? We don't eat a lot of either of them, perhaps if we did I would have a better idea, but they are very similar to me.

ander217 11/14/2010, 8:40 am

I probably eat more raw turnips than cooked ones. I pulled a large one from the garden the other night intending to cook it with some greens for supper. I salted a slice and ate it raw before putting the others in the pan. It was really good so I ate one more, then another, and before I knew it I'd eaten the entire turnip. I confessed to my DH who told me my penance would be to pull another one the next day for him to eat all to himself.

Normally we have turnips running out of our ears this time of year but for some reason ours didn't come up well and we had only about ten turnips growing so their stock is worth more this year than usual. (We're in an extreme drought and I probably didn't water them quickly enough when they were sprouting.) We also lost one to a vole.

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