| The parsnip is a root vegetable, and is rich in vitamins and minerals. Sweet and slightly nutty in flavor, pale parsnips are loaded with potassium (like potatoes) and vitamin A (like carrots).
Parsnips are sweeter and sharper in flavor than carrots. Some people say they have a bit of a celery taste to them. I like to describe them by saying, “Take a carrot. Remove 90% of that distinctly carroty taste. Increase the sweetness. Add in the sharp bite of a radish. That’s a parsnip.
They also contain folic acid, B vitamins, manganese, copper, magnesium, and fiber, which can help lower your cholesterol and regulate blood sugar.
Folic acid also plays a role in reducing heart disease and may help prevent dementia and osteoporosis bone fractures. That makes parsnips a healthy addition to your diet.
And, there are about 110 calories in a cup of parsnips, so there’s no reason to steer clear of them
Parsnips look a bit like pale carrots, but they actually contain much more heart-friendly folate than carrots.
Folate is a B vitamin required for the creation of healthy cells. Having insufficient levels of it has been linked to cancer and birth defects.
This root vegetable shines as a fiber source. Fiber helps keep the bowels regular, thus preventing constipation (which can keep toxins from leaving the body) and diarrhea (which can rob the body of fluids and nutrients)
They’re high in soluble fiber, the type that helps lower cholesterol and keep blood sugar on an even keel.
Here are some things you ought to know about parsnips:
* Parsnips are great in stews, pot roasts, soups, or anywhere that you would use potatoes, carrots, or turnips. You can add parsnips to the above vegetables or use them as a substitute.
* Thick parsnips tend to have woody, bitter cores. These should be trimmed out.
* Parsnip is often sold coated in wax to seal in moisture and increase shelf life. You should choose parsnips that are uniformly firm, without soft or moist spots.
Ideally, they should be 6-8 inches long. They store very well in the refrigerator, preferably in a perforated plastic bag.
Parsnips will keep well up to three weeks. After cooking, refrigerate only a day or two.
* The starch in a parsnip readily converts to sugar when exposed to cold. This means that winter parsnips will be sweeter than autumn parsnips. It also means that they get sweeter when refrigerated.
* When cooking parsnips, be cautious not to treat them precisely like other root vegetables. They tend to get soft more quickly than most.
That’s not to say you can’t get crispy parsnips by frying them, though. Parsnip chips, incidentally, are delicious.
* It is said that if you dream about parsnips you will be lucky in business matters, but not in affairs of the heart. So don’t dream about them, eat them. If you boil them you need only do this for 15 minutes
* To avoid mushy parsnips, add them to soups and stews near the end of the cooking time.
—PARSNIP, CARROT AND POTATO MASH
Ingredients
500 gr boiled potatoes
300 gr carrots boiled or steamed
300 gr boiled parsnips
butter
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
Method
Mash all the ingredients together and serve hot.
If you have some left over you can fry it in oil for breakfast next day.
This has Taste and is a Treat.
Want to know more about parsnip?
Then, click here:
Your Winter Veggie. It’s The Parsnip With All Natural Fiber & Potassium! | Your Organic Gardening Blog
Yours truly for great health, mind and body,
Michelle, natural health advocate |
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