Fermented Rutabaga Pickle with Beets
Do you like rutabaga? Turnip? At 60 years of age, I discovered that I didn’t really HATE turnip. I just didn’t like the way it was prepared. Boiled and mashed, no.
6 months ago I oven roasted small chunks of turnip with onion and garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. HOLEY RUTABAGA! Now I can’t seem to get enough of this lowly vegetable. AND, I like the fact that they are Ontario grown.
So I had a half a raw turnip in the drawer and felt like making a pickle with it.
Here’s my progress:
Day 1
I sliced 1/2 a large rutabaga into matchsticks. It’s just over 1 pound. I used the mandolin that my sister gave more for my birthday and cut 1/4″ thick slices. Then I used a knife to matchstick the slices. From my on-line research I know that some people add beets. I love the idea of pink pickles, and added a handful of dehydrated beet to the bowl. One whole peeled and matchstick-cut beet would work.
3 tablespoons of sea salt and tap water to cover. I stirred it all up a bit and will leave this overnight. The salt will draw some of the liquid out of the turnip, making them a little softer and easier to pack into a jar.
Tomorrow I’ll put them into a jar ready for fermentation.
Come back for Day 2.
I love them roasted too. Did you know we call them swede in England?
That makes sense; in the seed catalog they’re called Swede Turnip. Have you ever grown them?
no I’ve never tried growing them, but always buy them, hubby loves carrot and rutabaga (turnip) mashed together
Thanks Yvette: I am going to pass this along to my daughter. She is moving to a new home where she will have room for a large garden. She loves pickling veggies. I will send along the address for your blog as well. She will be interested in all that you do.
Brenda