Now is the season for winter weather roots.  Rutabagas, beets, turnips and parsnips are especially good during the months from October through February when you need something hearty to get you through the chilly, dark months.  Root vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber, making them a must-have addition to many cold-weather meals.  To save time and effort, roast root vegetables with a little olive oil, tamari and sea salt, until just tender.  Another quick fix is to boil and mash roots and serve them as a side dish with garlic and butter.  The following will give you a few ideas on adding roots to your main meal.

Beets:

This round edible root is intensely sweet and highly nutritious.  Cultivated since prehistoric times in the Mediterranean, beets were originally grown only for their leaves (until the Romans discovered the sweet, earthy roots beneath).

Beet Varieties:  beets come in several varieties from the well known crimson to gold, white and the candy-striped chioggia that shows it’s alternating red and white rings when cut horizontally.  Beet range in size from large marbles to massive baseballs.  Baby beets are generally more tender than regular beets and require less cooking time.  The sweet taste of beets reflects their high sugar content and in fact, they have the highest sugar content of all vegetables.

Buying and Storing Tips:  Choose firm beets and avoid those that are wrinkled or sprouting.  Beets can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for about a week.  To prevent moisture loss, remove the greens from the beet root and store separately.  Leave about 1 inch of the stem attached to the beet to prevent loss of nutrients and color during cooking.

Preparation, Uses and Tips:  Once greens are removed, gently scrub beets with a vegetable brush.  Beets retain their best flavor and color when cooked whole.  For simple tasty beets, place beets in a covered dish (foil over an oven-proof dish will do), drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and bake in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours depending on their size, at 400 ° F.  Let beets cool slightly then peel.  For flavor and color, grate peeled raw beets into salads or salsa.

Nutritional Highlights:

• Beets (root, raw), 1 cup (135g)
• Calories: 58
• Protein:  2.2g
• Carbohydrate: 13g
• Fiber:  3.8g

Beets are an excellent source of folate and a good source of potassium and vitamin C.  Studies show that the pigment that gives beets their rich red color is also a potent cancer-fighting compound.  The fiber from beets has been shown to lower total cholesterol and triglycerides.

Parsnips:

Europeans brought the parsnip to the United States in the early 1600s, but this creamy white root has never become an American favorite.  Parsnips look like large white carrots and although they are sweet like carrots, they have a little spicy flavor beneath their sweetness.  When cooked, they have a texture like potatoes, and make a wonderful, velvety puree.  Parsnips can be used to add a little jazz to carrot and potato dishes.  They are also delicious when combined with butter, cream and a dash of nutmeg.

Buying and Storing Tips:  Fresh parsnips are available year-round, with the peak season being during the fall and winter months. Look for well-shaped roots that are sturdy and firm with a cream-beige skin. Avoid limp, shriveled or spotted parsnips.  Parsnips will last refrigerated in a plastic bag for up to two weeks.  Large parsnips may develop a woody core, if they have been stored for a considerable length of time.

Preparation, Uses and Tips:  Scrub parsnips just before using.  Fresh, juicy parsnips can be eaten raw when finely diced and added to salads; however, cooking this vegetable develops its maximum sweetness and flavor.  Parsnips lend themselves to almost any method of cooking.  They can be baked, sautéed, steamed, or boiled and mashed like potatoes.  In most recipes they can stand in for carrots, sweet potatoes or regular potatoes.  Parsnips should be peeled, except in a few cases, such as steaming, where the skins slip off easily after cooking.

Nutritional Highlights:

• Parsnips (raw, sliced), 1 cup (155g)
• Calories: 100
• Protein:  1.56g
• Carbohydrate: 24g
• Total Fat: 0.4g
• Fiber:  6.5g

Parsnips are an excellent source of vitamin C and folate. They are also a good source of potassium.

Turnips:

The other neglected vegetable, turnips join rutabagas in losing the “root veggie popularity contest”.  Perhaps it is the uninspired recipes that accompanied turnips for years that left their desirability in question.

Varieties:  Although a variety of turnips brighten our seed catalogs, in the US when we talk of turnips, we pretty much mean one thing:  a radish-shaped round root, with a rosy-lilac top fading to a white root tip.

Availability, buying and storing tips:  Turnips are available year round, are easy to grow and belong to the cruciferous family.  Choose small, heavy turnips, as the younger roots will be more delicately flavored.  The roots should be firm, and the greens (if attached) brightly colored.  Avoid dull, light-weight turnips that feel spongy.  Recommendations on how long to store them varies, depending on the source.  According to “Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini” by Elizabeth Schneider, “turnips dehydrate very quickly and turn bitter. Today’s turnips are meant not for root cellars but for immediate consumption. Store them, plastic wrapped, in the coldest part of the refrigerator for no more than a few days.”  On the other end of the spectrum is Sharon Tyler Herbst, author of The Food Lover’s Companion, who says, “Though turnips can be refrigerated, tightly wrapped, for two weeks, they do best in a cool (55°F), well-ventilated area such as a root cellar.”  In general, to prevent nutrient loss and to enjoy vegetables at their freshest, it is best to consume them within a few days of purchase.

Preparation, uses, and tips:  With the exception of the tiniest turnips, most are better peeled.  It is also wise to taste for bitterness, so that one bad turnip does not spoil your entire dish.  Discard spongy and fibrous roots, as high quality turnips slice as smoothly as potatoes.  Turnips may be boiled or steamed, then mashed and pureed.  Turnips can also be served