Pickled Rutabaga
I do not think that I can recall ever eating a rutabaga. I was walking through the grocery store when I stumbled upon this root vegetable. It looked strikingly similar to a turnip. I decided to purchase this strange scraggly looking piece of produce and take it home to turn it into something I am very familiar with. I did not know what on earth to season the rutabaga with. I browsed recipes online and found some seasonings that people had used and used my own random measurements. Eating a piece of the raw rutabaga, was very bitter, crunchy, but also tough to bite into at the same time. After soaking it in salt water, the rutabaga soften up a little bit and was as you can guess very salty. After seasoning the rutabaga, it tasted much better, the salt was balanced out with the spices. They were surprisingly so good that I could have eaten all of the pieces without even pickling them! But, I needed to follow through and pickle them. This ended up being one of the best pickles that I have made. I was absolutely shocked, but the vinegar and the spices went very well together. It was still crunchy and was quite refreshing. I chopped some up and threw them in a salad and it was a great meal!
Wash one rutabaga.
Remove the first layer
Cut the rutabaga into fry shapes and rise with water. Then combine water + salt and soak the rutabaga in the salt water in the refrigerator over night.
Add seasonings to the rutabaga. Add 1/8 teaspoon of cumin, 1/8 teaspoon of paprika, 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne, and mix with about 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice.
Put the rutabaga in a jar and fill with the pickling brine*. Put lid on and place in the fridge. Enjoy!
*Make the brine by combining 1/2 cup of white vinegar with 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil, then turn off heat and let cool for a little while.
