I was first introduced to parsnips about 4 years ago. It wasn't a pleasant introduction.
My brother was a chef. My mother is not. My mother, wanting to try something different, got some parsnips, which she had heard from numerous sources were the food of cool people. She asked my brother ... Read review
Advantages: Tasty and healthy. Disadvantages: None, unless you're planning on getting lost in the wilderness
I was first introduced to parsnips about 4 years ago. It wasn't a pleasant introduction.
My brother was a chef. My mother is not. My mother, wanting to try something different, got some parsnips, which she had heard from numerous sources were the food of cool people. She asked my brother how to best cook them. My brother, being a chef, used the word "caramelise". This is where things went wrong.
My mother, ... ...to say, I didn't try parsnips for a long while after that.
My second meeting with parsnips went a tad better. I decided to forgive it for its burnt offerings those many years ago. That and I was having my Christmas dinner cooked for me so I was quite happy to sit back and relax for a change and nibble on whatever was thrown at me. This time, the parsnips were roasted along with some sweet potato and non sweet potato and chucked lovingly ... more
I was first introduced to parsnips about 4 years ago. It wasn't a pleasant introduction.
My brother was a chef. My mother is not. My mother, wanting to try something different, got some parsnips, which she had heard from numerous sources were the food of cool people. She asked my brother how to best cook them. My brother, being a chef, used the word "caramelise". This is where things went wrong.
My mother, not being a chef, didn't and still doesn't really see the difference between "caramelise" and "burn the crap out of". Needless to say, I didn't try parsnips for a long while after that.
My second meeting with parsnips went a tad better. I decided to forgive it for its burnt offerings those many years ago. That and I was having my Christmas dinner cooked for me so I was quite happy to sit back and relax for a change and nibble on whatever was thrown at me. This time, the parsnips were roasted along with some sweet potato and non sweet potato and chucked lovingly at my mouth hole.
I, at first, thought it must have just been the copious amounts of wine and spirits I'd worked my way through for the last 48 hours, but it seemed I actually enjoyed a parsnip. And sweet potato for that matter. I went to bed happy that night. Mostly because I'd just ripped open a Wii, but the parsnips surely put a happy twinkle in my eye somewhere…
After this more enjoyable outing with parsnips, I got myself all excited. I was going to start eating vegetables! ME!! VEGETABLES!!! Ones that aren't made out of chocolate too!! I skipped merrily off to my local, very humble, giant Tesco store and bought myself a large bag of these babies.
The thing I now enjoy most about parsnips is peeling them. It feels very like you are sharpening a deadly weapon (at least, the way I peel it, it does) and I have many a time been tempted to run rampage with nothing but a thong and a sharpened parsnip. I held myself back. They are really easy to peel mainly because there's a total change in colour when its peeled. Unlike its family member, the carrot. That evil vegetable.
As for cooking them, like most veggies, they can be souped, roasted, flung at small, unsuspecting children and the results are great. If you are a total freak, you can also eat them raw! I prefer them roasted with some sweet potato and its evil carrot brother. Fling them in the oven all oiled up for about 30-40 minutes at around about 200 degrees (about gas mark 6) turning occasionally.
The flavour is very unique and, surprisingly, it tastes…like a parsnip. It's kind of sweet, kind of bitter. I found it goes well with a little rosemary or ginger. Parsnip and Cinnamon, as I recently found out, tastes a little like a sweaty back end. Smells great though.
As for price, that really depends on how big you like your parsnips to be. Ahem. One large one will usually be enough for one to two side servings. Though I suppose that depends on how hungry you generally are. You can usually pick up a bag of 5/6 of them for £2 at the most.
Storage wise I slap them in my fridge and they last around a week. They don't last as fantastically long as some other vegetables, so you need to get them when you want to use them.
Nutritionally speaking parsnips are full of potassium, Fiber, Vitamin C, Folate (essentially vitamin B) and Manganese (which I'm told keeps your brain in good working order)
The only down side to parsnips is that if you are ever stuck in the wild, manage to find something that looks, smells and tastes like a parsnip, it might be Poison hemlock…which is…you know…poison.
A fabby vegetable to add to your collection of foods you can feel proud to eat. Unless you get the hemlock. Then you have no need for pride.
(as a side note, I can't believe I just rated the "performance" of a parsnip...life is grand)
Advantages: tasty, versatile, many health benefits Disadvantages: none other than possible (rare) allergic reaction
...healthily. I have always loved parsnips but my love of this humble vegetable has flourished in recent days. The parsnip is a root vegetable and is apparently related to the carrot. For those of you who for some bizarre reason have not encountered this wonderful vegetable, it does look like a carrot, only with more girth at the top and it is a pale yellowy colour on the outside and an off-white colour inside. Parsnips require frost to develop there ... ...Grandad has grown parsnips in his allotment for years. Strangely, each Christmas he chops up the tubes from the Christmas wrapping paper and will then use these to grow his parsnips in when he plants the seeds in early spring. He insists that this keeps them long and straight and generally makes them grow better. I have no reason to disbelieve him on this fact, after all he is 78 and has been growing his own vegetables since he was a nipper!
A huge ...
ilusvm 08.01.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Parsnips
Advantages: Taste excellent, smell nice, good for you Disadvantages: None
...Wake up and enjoy....
Parsnips are a lovely vegetable from a cooks point of view, they are really yummy roasted in the meat tin with the sunday joint, you need to roast them long and slow until the outer is crisp and caremelised with the inside nice and tender. Cut them into chunks if the parsnip is large, or keep them whole if young and slender.
The aroma of roasted parsnips along with all the other lovely stuff in the oven really gets the juices ... ...this one you know they are eating good stuff.
Methinks a recipe section on Ciao might be a good idea ;-)
Oh, by the way, the boxes below are a bit silly in relation to this op, I mean if your parsnips were in flower - forget it! ...
Lynda04 31.03.2001 (03.04.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Parsnips
Advantages: reallygood roasted Disadvantages: hubby does not like
Are you having roast parsnips with your Sunday roast beef or Christmas turkey?
I probably will be. I like parsnips (hubby doesn't so I rarely get them)
Parsnips are a root vegetable very much like a carrot but a creamy white colour (taste different of course.). The leaves that are on top of the ground look quite similar.
I have on occasions grown parsnips but our chalky soil is not ideal for parsnips or carrots.
I usually buy a parsnip from the ... ...as they get older.
Parsnips keep well for about a week or so in the fridge.
To prepare them for cooking both wash and scrub them well or thinly peel. Chop them into small [pieces if boiling, if roasting you may cut them in half
Parsnips are a vegetable that can be cooked in boiling water for about 15 minutes longer if you are cooking big chunks of parsnip. They are good steamed for 15 minutes too.
Serve them like this to eat as a vegetable accompaniment.
...
mumsymary 17.12.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Parsnips
Advantages: Lets you keep track of the growth from seed to maturity Disadvantages: Needs a bit more time spending on preparation
Parsnips are difficult to start off because of the long germination time required and it is easy to lose them in the garden because the weeds will grow first and weeding = disturbed parsnip seeds.
I avoid all this by germinating my seeds in short, rolled up tubes of newspaper. Make up some newspaper tubes about an inch in diameter and 3 to 4 inches long. Fill with a mixture of peat and sand and stand them up in a seed tray. You can easily get a ... ...This avoids any root disturbance and keeps your parsnips free of weeds. Do not water to much during the first few weeks as this will encourage the root to grow straight down in search of water. You should finish up with some nice, long and clean great specimens ...
yorkie2 09.06.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Parsnips
Advantages: Delicious Roasted Disadvantages: Take A Long Time To Grow
...Dad used to occasionally grow Parsnips on his Vegetable patch but they were never very popular with myself or my Brother on the dinner plate which is hard to believe now since as an adult I would say that I rate them amongst my very favourite Vegetables. As I grew a little bit older, around 6 or 7 years old my Mother had an another attempt at trying to introduce them to us and called them "White Carrots" and we had White Carrots with our Sunday Dinner ... ...background.
The History
Parsnips are native to Europe and Western Asia and until the 18th century they were more popular than both Potatoes and Carrots. During the Middle Ages they became very popular during Lent and the Parsnip became the staple Vegetable of many Europeans who favoured it for its flavour, nutritional properties and its ability to satisfy hunger during meatless fasting periods.
The Parsnip derives its name from the Latin word ...
micksheff 23.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Parsnips
Advantages: good versatile product Disadvantages: fluted sides a pain to clean
Pyrex Rectangular Flan Dish, I am getting bored with circular pies cakes and flans there is a rectangular flan dish made by Pyrex. I think this dish only comes in one size approximately 23cm x 30cm. 9. Inches by 11.8 inches.
This dish is a good size to get several portions of food from. I use this dish for sponge puddings, tomato and onion flans. It is suitable for cooking any flan or pie/tart in, also useful for roasting potatoes and parsnips. This rectangular flan dish has many uses.
To serve a flan from this dish best cut flan in rectangles and serve.
This Pyrex glass flan dish is quite attractive enough to use as a serving dish it has fluted raised sides the corners not right angles but rounded.
Although Pyrex glass is easy to clean I do find the fluted sided ones harder as if you over cook burn the food it?s harder ...
Advantages: Lovable and affecionate little animals. Disadvantages: None
between £15 - £25) hamsters are relatively cheap to keep ? Ginger costs around £1.50 a week.
FEEDING THE BRUTE
Hamsters eat a mixture of cereals, fruit and vegetables, you have to make sure that Hammy can always get to his fresh drinking water (a drip bottle is good, but make sure it doesn't get blocked), has small amounts of fresh vegetables every now and then for variety and that you remove any food that hasn't been eaten ( not a problem with greedy old Ginger Owen!!)
Prepared hamster food is available in most supermarkets and pet shops although I would recommend that you buy the loose variety from pet shops it is far more economical.
Apart from their dried foods other foods that they can eat and enjoy are
FRUIT AND VEG
Apples and pears
Carrot
Parsnips
Tomatoes
Sweet corn
Celery
They can have lettuce and cucumber ...
oldchem 13.06.2009 (08.11.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Syrian Hamster
Advantages: Healthy and simple to use Disadvantages: none
the ingredients and nutritional values and provides the company contact details.
☺ Contents
Basically it is a packet of dried fruit (well almost). My partner saw this in the kitchen and asked it he could put it on his cereal ? it does look rather appetising.
In the packet are dried apples, bananas, carrots, rowan berries, leek (is this a fruit??), parsnips (another fruit?), rosehips and potatoes (lol). Well, there may be some ?fruits? here I wouldn?t expect in my fruit salad but I don?t suppose the hamsters mind the technicalities. To be fair the blurb on the front does describe it as a mix of dried fruits and vegetables but I didn?t read the small print in the shop, I just went by the main heading of fruit salad.
The sell by date is 14 months ahead but I would suggest that once the packet is open then it should be used within ...
