Griffins first introduced parsnips to this country. The creature once inhabited vast areas of Norfolk amongst the broads. Parsnips were among their favourite foods as were Kendal Mint Cake and fondant fancies. The remains of ancient Griffin farms can still be found in and around Swaffham and each November the local inhabitant\u2019s feast on Parsnip hot pot with griffin shaped dumplings.<\/p>\n
This is of course a lie but I couldn\u2019t resist it, everyone knows that Griffins prefer carrots.<\/p>\n
The true origins of the modern cultivar, thought to originate in the Mediterranean, can still be seen growing wild all over Europe. The wild parsnip has a thin woody stem that may have been used as a flavouring and similarly the leaves were used as a potherb. There is some evidence to suggest it was the Romans who first started to cultivate the parsnip as we know it today. There is some confusion however as there was not necessarily a distinction made between the carrot and the parsnip at that time.<\/p>\n
By the middle ages the parsnip was a popular vegetable often used to sweeten dishes in the absence of sugar cane not yet imported from the new world and at a time when honey was a rare and expensive luxury. The potato was also not yet imported so the parsnip would have been a staple food in the dark ages.<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 The name comes from the French pastinaca and the \u2018nip\u2019 added to indicate its resemblance to the turnip. This couldn\u2019t be simpler, if you have grown carrots they should be treated in much the same way. I am lucky enough to have a nutrient rich light clay soil on my allotment and personally didn\u2019t incorporate any compost or manure to the soil. Parsnips don\u2019t like a too rich medium to grow in so don\u2019t over manure the planting site but most texts agree that some compost should be added as long as it is not too nitrogen rich and the site should be stone free. For show parsnips fill a 3ft deep and 6 in wide hole with light soil or potting compost and as with all parsnips (show or not) they should be watered regularly in dry weather. Serves at least 4<\/p>\n Three large parsnips<\/p>\n Two medium potatoes<\/p>\n 2 Leeks<\/p>\n 3 Cloves of Garlic<\/p>\n Enough vegetable or chicken stock to cover<\/p>\n Some oil or butter<\/p>\n Black Pepper<\/p>\n Optional Ingredients<\/p>\n Pinch of Nutmeg<\/p>\n Fresh Parsley<\/p>\n Teaspoon of mustard<\/p>\n Two tablespoons of cream<\/p>\n First soften the leeks in a little butter or oil. Add the crushed garlic about half way through.<\/p>\n Peel the potatoes and chop them<\/p>\n Wash and chop the parsnips but don\u2019t peel them<\/p>\n Add to the pan and allow to soften for about a minute<\/p>\n Cover with the stock and bring to the boil<\/p>\n Reduce heat and simmer adding the remaining ingredients except the parsley and cream<\/p>\n Chop the parsley and add towards the end of cooking<\/p>\n Serve and add the cream and a few sprigs of parsley<\/p>\n This is just a loose recipe and can be adapted with what ever you have. Parsnips have a strong over-riding flavour and will drown out the taste of most other things so it is not necessarily worth adding expensive vegetables or prize crops to the dish.<\/p>\n Parsnips<\/p>\n Oil<\/p>\n Rosemary and or Thyme<\/p>\n Garlic<\/p>\n Parboil some parsnips in a pan<\/p>\n Fill a roasting dish about \u00bc deep of oil (enough to cover half the parsnips in depth)<\/p>\n Put the roasting dish in a warmed oven at about 425 F, Gas mark 7 or 220 C and let the oil warm.<\/p>\n Test the oil by dropping a bit of parsnip if it crackles then the oil is hot enough<\/p>\n Chop some garlic up into slivers add to the oil and then place the parsnips in the hot roasting dish topping with fresh rosemary and thyme<\/p>\n Cook for 25-30 minutes until the parsnips are brown.<\/p>\n Serve immediately.<\/p>\n Roasted parsnips can be made into a soup or used as a side dish for a traditional English roast dinner with roast potatoes, vegetables, Yorkshire pudding, gravy and roast beef or a stuffed marrow* or stuffed pepper* (*not traditional but I\u2019m a veggie so traditional for me)<\/a><\/p>\n Parsnips are a very good source of potassium and therefore can be consider a health food as they can help reduce blood pressure.<\/strong><\/p>\n As in the case of most slow growing root vegetables parsnips are high in nutrients as they absorb the goodness in the soil over a period of time. It is my opinion that vegetables allowed to grow slowly will be of a higher nutritional value than those grown quickly in intensive farming conditions.<\/p>\n An average portion of boiled parsnip will provide the following.<\/p>\n 8.4g Carbohydrate<\/p>\n 4 Kcal!<\/p>\n 1g Protein<\/p>\n 3.1g Fibre<\/p>\n 33 mg calcium<\/p>\n 0.39 mg Iron<\/p>\n Parsnips are a very good source of potassium and therefore can be consider a health food as they can help reduce blood pressure. They are also contain many of the B vitamins and some vitamin C although this is reduced through cooking.<\/p>\n Article written by Dave Hamilton. Dave has now left Selfsufficientish but you can catch up with him on davehamilton.me.uk or on twitter @davewildish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" History Griffins first introduced parsnips to this country. The creature once inhabited vast areas of Norfolk amongst the broads. Parsnips were among their favourite foods as were Kendal Mint Cake and fondant fancies. The remains […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1839,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[727],"tags":[668,670,667,669],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening-2","tag-griffins","tag-growing-parsnips","tag-parsnips","tag-pasonaca-sativa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1839"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3187,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions\/3187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.selfsufficientish.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Some Parsnip Facts<\/h3>\n
\n\u2022 Rather than destroy the plant a parsnip improves with a frost as this turns a lot of the starch into sugar.
\n\u2022 Much of the flavour compounds of the parsnip are to be found under the skin, this is why many recipes call for parsnips to remain unpealed.
\n\u2022 The roots of wild parsnip are said to aid bowel movement and urine <\/a>discharge.<\/p>\nGrowing Parsnips<\/h3>\n
\n\u2022 Plant in late February or early March after the last risk of frost, however I didn\u2019t plant mine until the end of March and they seem to be doing fine.
\n\u2022 Sow 3-4 seeds at 6in (15cm) intervals (3in for smaller varieties)
\n\u2022 Thin out when the first true leaves appear leaving the strongest plant.
\n\u2022 Water frequently (at least once a week) and hoe regularly, taking care not to damage the plants.
\n\u2022 Parsnips are best after a light frost and should be lifted using a fork to stop the root from being damaged.<\/a><\/p>\nParsnip Recipes<\/h3>\n
Parsnip and Leek Soup<\/h4>\n
Ingredients<\/h4>\n
Method\/Procedure<\/h4>\n
Roast Parsnip<\/h4>\n
Ingredients<\/h4>\n
Method\/Procedure<\/h4>\n
Parsnip Nutrition<\/h3>\n