Gul Svensk rutabaga

(Brassica napus)

Green top with yellow flesh. Powerful flavours: sweet, spicy, and bitter, jostle each other in a bouquet of delightful contradictions – if you can hold them together. For the adventurous person with a discerning palate!

…Or for the real traditionalist. Rutabagas are believed to be a relatively new species which developed out of turnips and kale crossing with each other. First described in 1683, they spread rapidly from their apparent centre of origin in Sweden (hence their other common name, Swede turnip). ‘Gul Svensk’ may be the archetypal rutabaga. It comes with an outstanding pedigree from Sweden, where it was a popular landace which used to be widely cultivated (the name simply means “yellow Swedish”). An early variety, it was grown as far north as Härjedalen and Hälsingland, at latitudes 61º and 63º N! It was first offered commercially by Sveriges Allmänna Utsädes AB beginning in 1897 and W. Weibull in 1911, but was already old then.

NordGen Accession # NGB 13796; accessions 13802, 13818, and 13663 have the same name, indicating that multiple people are still growing and appreciating this variety. Also listed as K 506 in the N. I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry. Part of the Slow Food Ark of Taste.