Farm-Fresh Market
  • Home
  • Updates
    • Recipes
    • Through the Kitchen Window
    • A Practical Cat's Book of Household Clues
  • Inside the Market
    • Schedule and Directions
    • Vendors
    • Featured Guests
  • More Info
    • Join the Market
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Jobs
    • Winter Harvest 2020
  • Home
  • Updates
    • Recipes
    • Through the Kitchen Window
    • A Practical Cat's Book of Household Clues
  • Inside the Market
    • Schedule and Directions
    • Vendors
    • Featured Guests
  • More Info
    • Join the Market
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Jobs
    • Winter Harvest 2020
Through the Kitchen Window
by Anna Gill

PONDERING PARSNIPS

10/26/2016

0 Comments

 
“Faire words butter noe parsnips,” quoth John Clarke in 1639.  Maybe so.  However, buttered parsnips may surely foment a few fine words.  Let’s begin with those sweet, small, cream colored roots that are at their very best now after the first frost.  There must be something intrinsically first-rate in the character of a vegetable that sweetens with a bit of adversity.
Picture
We’ve spent time on many now-common vegetables that originated in the New World.  Parsnips, however, are of a long and varied Eurasian lineage.  Like people, vegetables have their trends and are subject to the whims of popularity.  Long before the record-keepers of antiquity were around to make note of it, parsnip roots had been foraged and eaten.  The empire-building Tiberius, before he retired to Capri, was more than happy to accept payment of German tribute in parsnips, which were then the preferred sweetener before the advent and popularity of sugar beets and sugar cane.  The Romans, who frequently confused parsnips with carrots, cultivated parsnips and took them on road trips along with Roman civilization and tax collection.  In the farthest reach of their empire, where grapes were less hardy, the wine made from parsnips was reputed to have tasted like Maderia.  
Picture
Parsnip popularity has since waxed and waned capriciously.  Inexplicably, in the mid 19th C, its popularity was wrested away by the blander potato.  Presumably, the potato had a better marketing team or a greater advertising budget.
Picture
In previous columns, we’ve published recipes for Parsnip Spice Cake With Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting and Creamy Parsnip & Leek Soup all of which are available on the web site.  Today’s recipe, Caramelized Parsnips, may recommend itself as a holiday keeper as it can be prepared in advance and is a great deal more reward than effort.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

Home

Weekly Update

Vendors

Directions

Contact Us

Copyright © 2017
  • Home
  • Updates
    • Recipes
    • Through the Kitchen Window
    • A Practical Cat's Book of Household Clues
  • Inside the Market
    • Schedule and Directions
    • Vendors
    • Featured Guests
  • More Info
    • Join the Market
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Jobs
    • Winter Harvest 2020