Guest Blogger, Sherri Hubbell makes the case for rutabagas, complete with a wonderful “mascot” designed by grea at Sangrea.net

Sadly, the delicious, highly nutritious rutabaga (you may know it as a swede, turnip-root, or yellow turnip) is not available in supermarkets all year ‘round. The reasons are many, but the top two are:

1. It’s not a universally popular vegetable.

2. It doesn’t have a comprehensive distribution system, like grapes for example, to carry it from its cool-weather growing conditions to its consumers in warm-weather environments

What If There Were a Global Rutabaga Distribution System?

What if we had a global, or even hemispheric, distribution system in place to bring fresh rutabaga to the table at any time of year? Think grapes. It wasn’t so long ago that California fresh grapes were the mainstay in US supermarkets, although only in season. Then we began to see fresh grapes from Chile, out of our season.

Fortunately, the Global Rutabaga Distribution Act is now in review at Nation States. Paragraph Six is right to my point:

“[The World Assembly] CALLS UPON WA member nations to, except in cases where private entities already conduct such research, advance research into new and improved methods of rutabaga production and distribution…”

 None of this will happen, of course, without the proper public relations and marketing strategies. To that end I offer my pal, Rooty Rutabaga, as the official global rutabaga distribution mascot.

Meet My Pal, Rooty Rutabaga

Rooty and a couple of his friends came to my house in a grocery bag several months ago, in the winter. I dumped them in my refrigerator crisper and, over the following few weeks, peeled and prepared them for dinners. Somehow, Rooty never made it to the dinner table. As I continued to add fresh produce to the crisper, he must have become pushed to the back. Not too long ago I finally found him, sprouting.

 That day I found him, I put him on my windowsill where he sits today, his topknots growing fuller and greener every hour with not even a drop of water to help them along. He is his own powerhouse.

I think Rooty’s a fine mascot for promoting global rutabaga distribution. After all, he’s a diehard, surviving through all that cold storage. And he made himself born again, considering that lush top growth in evidence today. He’s got grit, determination, and gumption.

Let’s hear it for Rooty, champion of theRutabaga for All Seasons!

Rutabagas aren’t just good for eating. Here are ten ways to use rutabagas in other ways.