Ode To a Parsnip
Behold the lowly parsnip. When it is not being ignored by contemporary farmers, it is more likely to be raised for bovine or porcine fodder than to end up on a dinner plate. While I will cede no ground in championing the humane treatment of livestock, this strikes me as excessive humanity and a cruel denial to our own palates. I confess that I have only recently come to appreciate this cousin of the ubiquitous carrot; and like most converts, I have become somewhat of a zealot.
Last year was the first time I have grown them in my garden. So, it was perhaps to be expected that I experienced simultaneous waves of trepidation and anticipation this morning when I discovered my parsnip bed had finally thawed enough to permit my first post-winter harvest.
I pulled three of one variety from the bed to find them rather small, and with some brown spots which I assume to be canker. Score two for the trepidation. I scrubbed, then sauteed them in butter for an unconventional Morning Tea. Alas, my humble words are woefully inadequate to describe the exquisite repast
Now, I am no gourmet — far from it. My preferences run to the bold, even blazing. My daily diet is subsumed with unreasonable quantities of garlic, hot peppers, and ginger. And yet this simple meal of parsnips and butter vaulted effortlessly over my entire roster of favorite dishes. The complex and nuanced flavors surpassed anything I have ever tasted from my garden. And despite their cosmetic deficiencies, these parsnips were far superior to any I have purchased.
Last year I grew two varieties:
Exhibition Long Parsnip – “Extra long variety for the exhibitor, flavour and cooking quality is excellent.” This variety is certainly an homage to the British fetish of competitive vegetable growing, but as their description suggests, it also excels on the plate. I purchased my seed from Robinson’s Mammoth Vegetable Seed in the U.K. They are to be recommended even to stateside gardeners despite the extra hassles of ordering seed from overseas. (They are famous for an onion they claim can be grown to 22″ in circumference, weighing in at 6 lbs.!, but I digress…)
Gladiator Parsnip – “You’ll be impressed from the start with Gladiator’s quick germination and vigorous early growth. The vitamin-rich, cream colored roots have a clean parsnipy sweetness that makes it the most flavor-packed parsnip we’ve had the pleasure to eat. The smooth tapered roots reach 7 inches when they’re ready for the kitchen. Try Gladiator in stews or grated in salads. Seed is from England.” Reported to be the first hybrid parsnip (not usually a plus in my ledger), these beauties have rounded shoulder — more the profile of a carrot — and are, as advertised, delicious. My seed was from Territorial Seed in Washington state.
I will be growing both again this year from the original seed, despite parsnips’ notoriety for germination rates that start out mediocre at best, and plummet from there. It is generally recommended that one does not plant year-old seed, so I read up on the matter on British web sites. (In my book, the Brits are the first and final word on all things parsnip — my own Brit and Scot roots dictate that someday I will have to combine parsnips and leeks into a single dish.)
The rage in the UK appears to be starting parsnips in the tubes from toilet paper (or, as they would have it: loo paper) rolls. Apparently, this allows them to be raised indoors until they have three sets of leaves, and then transplanted out to the garden without the traditional ill-effects of malformed and forked roots. I clearly have so much to learn about growing parsnips just in the garden that this is beyond my pay grade (besides, I had not anticipated the need to stockpile toilet paper rolls for the past nine months).
More useful, was reading that many British aficionados sprout their parsnip seed on damp kitchen paper in the airing cupboard (translated stateside: between sheets of wet paper towels in a warm location). It is important to transfer them soon after sprouting either directly to the garden, or to the proverbial loo roll filled with compost. This should allow me to grow at least a few of these two delicious varieties even though the seed is well past prime. I also have fresh seed from two open-pollinated varieties: Guernsey, and The Student to ensure next year’s bounty.
Parsnips are also serving as my first attempt to save seed from a biennial. Last year I planted several each of Exhibition and Gladiator in my over-wintering bed. Perhaps this is an overly brash experiment given that one is a hybrid and also that they are almost certain to cross. Who knows what misshapen progeny they will yield? But I am open to the possibilities as well as the liabilities.
So deep is my love for the lowly parsnip.
- John
Welcome to the gardening blogosphere – well done! I love the pics of your garden – it looks so neat and orderly!
I just ‘happened’ onto your site. Alas, I have had to live my gardening dreams vicariously these past few years, as we had to relocate from my beloved Pacific Northwest…specifically the Peninsula of Washington State, where I had huge gardens full of everything imaginable, to southern Arizona, where it is simply too difficult to grow much beyond citrus, avocados and olives (not that these aren’t lovely in their own right, but hardly the bounty to which I am accustomed. (I am a native Englishwoman, so moving to the Pacific Northwest was no stretch at all, when it came to gardening.)
At any rate, I’ve obviously been spoiled, as I am used to simply tossing the seeds in the ground and watching them grow, NOT in having to revise my ideas of when and what to plant, and how to shelter them from the blazing sun. (OK, maybe ‘tossing the seeds in the ground, etc’ is somewhat of an exaggeration, BUT not a lot!
ANYhoo! In two years we will be headed ‘home’ once again, and meanwhile I am reading about other people’s successes and failures, and taking notes for future reference. I do hope that gardening is like riding a bike, in that it will all come rushing back to me once I’ve plowed my beds and built my compost heaps.
Until then, I will peek back here to see what you are doing now. I hope you DO go beyond parsnips, as although they are lovely, there are hundreds of other veggies and fruits to be planted and tasted. If you can have success with parsnips, then most other veggies should be easy-peasy for you. Do try artichokes and asparagus, both take a bit of preparation ahead of time, but should reward you with years of delectable eating. In fact, if you would like any advice that I might possess, please let me know. I had gardens of up to an acre at various points over nearly 30 years.
Namaste
OOH! It would seem I’ve spoken too soon, and without looking at your entire site. I didn’t see the pictures which your other commenter referred, but I will now look for them. I love pictures of gardens, even more than reading about gardens. I have MANY pictures of my gardens over the years, and I’m so glad of that now. I look at them and dream of seeing them again. Of course, I won’t be ‘seeing’ any of those in reality, but we WILL have a house with sufficient land once we return to paradise. (And, yes, I’m well-aware that few people refer to the Pacific Northwest as ‘paradise’. To me, it is. A bit of rain is a small price to pay for the lush green landscapes to be seen all over. So different from the red earth and sand I see daily living here. Well, I’m off to find your pictures.
OK, I’ve seen some of the pictures. Please disregard my earlier comments, I feel a fool now. I will make more comments as your blog progresses, please don’t publish the ones I just made. Honestly, I’m not usually so clueless, I promise. It’s Easter Sunday, and I’m wiped out. (That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!)
Thank you very much for your comments. While my blog is still in its very early stages, and I have yet to address the vast majority of my crops individually, I expect there is much I could learn from you. I am very interested in trying to adapt British veg and techniques stateside; but I expect that it will be more easily done in your once and future neck of the woods chez PNW. Last year I grew a Brit sprouting purple broccoli which was rated as very hardy for the UK, but succumbed to our winter. Alas — it is a biennial so I never got to taste or even see its florets. I should write a bit on the two other Brit crops I grow for roots’ sake: Show Perfection Peas and Mammoth Onion. I would love to read any tips you might care to share.
As for your current locale, it should be very good for tomatoes and peppers, probably eggplant too.
-John
thanks !! very helpful post!
Hello again. I finally made it back to your site. I did look at most of your pictures. I am so envious of you. I miss my own gardens so very much. As to my current locale being good for the nightshades, actually it is, BUT ONLY if one plants them out early enough to ripen in June or so. After that, they cook on their vines. This winter has been very bad everywhere. The PNW had more snow for longer than ever before, I believe, in history. Most of the biennials as well as many of the perennials probably froze and died as well there this winter. And, the extreme cold (for that area) has postponed spring planting as well. Here it is just as bad, as most ‘summer’ crops should already be in, yet we have had very cold weather here as well. As I said, I haven’t bothered with trying to have a garden here. The majority of my favourites cannot be grown at all, and those that can must be planted at times far different than I am used to. Not to mention that the ‘soil’ (if it can even be called that) must be VERY HEAVILY amended. It is very nasty stuff, at least to those of us who are used to ‘humussy’ soils. The ‘dirt’ here is called ‘caleche’, and it is not hospitable to most plants. It is mainly clay and aggregate, and very alkaline. It takes much more work than I am willing to give in order to make it productive. Not only does it take a lot of work, but it must be done nearly ‘from scratch’ each and every year. It will not maintain the compost, etc. with which one tries to enrich it. As I said before, certain things do grow well, but mainly trees. The Indians grew corn, squash, etc. here, and I reckon I might have learnt to grow those as well. Still, since I have been so spoilt, it is just too much effort for too little return as far as I’m concerned. I miss being able to stick my hand in the dirt, and lifting up nice, loose handfuls of beautiful, dark, moist, fragrant soil. You could not ‘stick your hand’ in the ground ANYWHERE around here. It is all rather like concrete. So, I will be more than content,(for now at least since the time is finite), to simply read about what others are doing in their gardens. If you have any questions though, I will do my best to answer them. Of course, if the PNW weather should remain the way it was this year, I might need advice from YOU, as I have little experience with lots of snow and very low temps. We used to have snowfall about once every 8 years or so, at least snow that ‘stuck’, and then it lasted for only a week or two. By the end of February or the first of March it was easy to tell that spring was on its way.
I don’t think I have ever grown a biennial broccoli. I DID usually plant an overwintering crop, so that I could have fresh broccoli much sooner each year. Of course, I also planted a ‘main season’ crop of it as well. In fact, overwintering crops was oh, so easy for so many of them. Also, I had cold frames, and could usually grow lettuces most of the winter in them. I had a small hoop house too, and am hoping to build a much larger one when we move back. One can outfit them with stoves and grow so many things all winter long.
I know I’ve ‘talked’ your ‘ears’ off now, so I’ll let you go. I’ll be back soon. Can’t wait to read your updates.
Caroline