A rutabaga is a large root vegetable with purple and yellowish skin and yellow flesh inside. It looks like a turnip's bigger, rounder cousin, and it grows underground like a potato or carrot. When you cook rutabaga, it becomes soft and slightly sweet, with a mild, earthy flavor that works well in stews, soups, or mashed like potatoes.

Rutabagas were created hundreds of years ago, probably in Europe, when turnips and cabbages naturally crossed. Farmers discovered this new vegetable grew well in cold climates and could be stored through winter, making it valuable when fresh vegetables were scarce. In some places, people call rutabagas swedes or Swedish turnips.

While rutabagas aren't as popular in America as they once were, they still show up at farmers' markets and in traditional recipes. Some people carve them for Halloween instead of pumpkins, which takes real effort since rutabagas are much harder to cut than pumpkins.