table talk / By Ari LeVaux

Parsnips in Winter

The other root vegetable

(Jan. 26, 2012)  Parsnips are hardly a secret. Unlike celeriac or rutabagas, most have at least heard of parsnips, even if they can’t remember what they look like. The fragrant taproot that resembles an ivory-white carrot was once a big deal in the old country. Medieval folks survived northern European winters on parsnips, which were used to make sweeteners as well. Slice one thinly and boil the slices in two cups of water for 20 minutes. Let the water cool, drink it and taste how sweet it is.

Despite their years of service, parsnips lost ground to potatoes brought home by New World explorers. The advent of sugarcane further crushed parsnip demand.

Vintage parsnip illustration

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Spuds yield more pounds per acre than parsnips, and more calories per pound. And when survival is a priority, it pays to grab every calorie you can get. But when you’re not in danger of starving, it pays to diversify. Nothing against potatoes, but they don’t come close to matching the parsnip’s resinous texture or its earthy, nutmeggy flavor. Potatoes also lack the parsnip’s diversity of nutrients like folic acid, fiber, calcium and carotenoids.

Parsnips take longer to grow and require more space and labor, but you don’t have to lift a finger to store them. Just leave them in the ground, insulated with straw or a blanket in cold climates, and dig them as needed through the winter.

I learned the art of winter parsnip digging from an old hippie who grows a huge crop of parsnips and carrots behind his house, which is made of mud and peach pits. On nice winter days we’d visit him and go digging for roots in the garden. My son’s first solid food was dirt licked from one such freshly dug parsnip.

Carrots and parsnips are close cousins and they cook well together in soups, roasts, and purees. If you’re looking for an easy rule of thumb for parsnips, simply do with them whatever you would do with carrots. Parsnip flavor is strong, and perhaps you’ll prefer them cooked separately so their flavor doesn’t overpower whatever else you have going. Or you may decide you want that flavor in everything.

As winter wore on the carrots began to get woody, but those parsnips only grew sweeter until we dug the last one in March. By that time I had conducted extensive trials with the old hippie’s parsnips. I added them to the root mix beneath roasting birds, and to the soups made from their leftover carcasses. I oven-roasted parsnip frites and pan-fried parsnip pudding. I mixed parsnips into mirepoix, fried rice and hash browns.

Roman Emperor Tiberius was such a fan he sent away as far as France and Germany for his parsnips, but you can make the case that he should have gone farther. Researching online, I found that Brits have a lot to say about parsnips. It seems like wherever someone has something to say about parsnips, there’s a Brit in the comment section to add his or her two cents. They often take the opportunity to remind the world that the biggest parsnips are from the UK.

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