When my friend posted a celery soup recipe in my comments of my celery post she mentioned she puts parsnips in soups as thickening agents because potatoes were bland so she uses the parsnips for a little additional flavor. I didn’t know what a parsnip was. I had heard of them, and I knew it was a root vegetable but I had never used one. As we were “talking” on my blog back and forth, I was thinking, “I’m going to stick to using a potato.” But as I was shopping I decided to try making my celery soup with parsnips. So I bought two parsnips.
I realized I didn’t know if I should peel it or not. So I just decided to use my produce brush on it, which has really stiff bristles so it somewhat peels it. When I started to cut it up, I realized it was very firm, not as soft as a potato. As I was chopping it occured to me that it smelled like a carrot. While I was chopping it I realized I needed to look it up and learn about what parsnips are.
I laughed when I read what Wiki had to say because it is obvious parsnips are related to the carrot. They even slightly resemble carrots except they are lighter and larger. Although cited information states:
“The parsnip originated in the Mediterranean region and originally was the size of a baby carrot when fully grown. When the Roman Empire expanded north through Europe, the Romans brought the parsnip with them. They found that the parsnip grew bigger the farther north they went.”
In a serving (about a cup sliced) there is about:
100 calories
24 grams of carbohydrates with 6.5 grams of dietary fiber.
Parsnips are a great source of vitamin C and seven different vitamin Bs. They also contain the essential mineral manganese and also Potassium, which is crucial to heart function. This really is a nutritional power punch, because they also contain magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, and copper. WOW!
I am seeing information that says you can roast them as you would potatoes, but I wonder how good that would be. Have you tried that? I am sure you will read about it when I do. I really love roasted sweet potatoes now that I have finally found them. Parsnips might be my new love.
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