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← 2014 Advent Botany – Day 18 – Amaryllis (Hippeastrum spp.)
2014 Advent Botany – Day 20 – Christmas Box (Sarcococca confusa) →

2014 Advent Botany – Day 19 – Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Alastair Culham
Pastinaca sativa

Pastinaca sativa

The parsnip is a classic Christmas lunch vegetable, usually eaten roasted but sometimes boiled or steamed.  The edible part is the taproot, and this contains high quantities of dietary fibre (which has given the vegetable an unfortunate reputation for causing flatulent after-effects) but it also develops a high sugar content after chilling for a period of several days hence the truth of the commonly heard assertion that parsnips are better after the frost has reached them.  Parsnips are particularly good if roasted with a little honey for extra sweetness and some English mustard to give a little heat to bring out the flavours.

Parsnips are part of the Apiaceae, the same family as carrots and celery, but also the same family as Hemlock.  The world’s biggest parsnip weighed 7.796kg and was grown by the Cornish farmer David Thomas.  This multi branched parsnip was likened to Davy Jones of Pirates of the Caribbean leading to the headline ‘Parsnips of the Caribbean‘ in the Daily Mail. The world’s longest parsnip was an impressive 5.607m long and grown in 2012 by Peter Glazebrook from Newark (Nottinghamshire).

PastinakePflanzegeerntetCC3

Unlike our garden parsnips, wild parsnips tend to produce a rather thin and woody storage root for the winter.  They are not that tasty to eat but it makes the job of preparing and pressing herbarium specimens, such as the one below, much easier.

A specimen of wild parsnip from UoR Herbarium, RNG

A specimen of wild parsnip from UoR Herbarium, RNG

And for those whose pear trees are not fully occupied by perching partridges you could always try this recipe for Parsnip and Pear soup kindly forwarded by Dawn Bazely.

 

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About Alastair Culham

A professional botanist and biologist with an interest in promoting biological knowledge and awareness to all.
View all posts by Alastair Culham →
This entry was posted in Advent, Herbarium RNG, Public Engagement with Science and tagged #AdventBotany, parsnip, Pastinaca sativa. Bookmark the permalink.
← 2014 Advent Botany – Day 18 – Amaryllis (Hippeastrum spp.)
2014 Advent Botany – Day 20 – Christmas Box (Sarcococca confusa) →
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Last reply was April 26, 2019
  1. #Advent Botany – the full story! | Dr M Goes Wild
    View December 19, 2014

    […] More on parsnips – including Guinness world records for the biggest and longest – at Culham Research group. […]

    Reply
  2. Advent Botany 2015 – Day 23: Night of the Radishes | Culham Research Group
    View December 23, 2015

    […] about holly and ivy, possibly Christmas trees and poinsettias, and maybe even Brussels sprouts and parsnips. But I bet you don’t think about radishes. And yet, the humble radish (Raphanus sativus) plays an […]

    Reply
  3. The Son of #AdventBotany 2015! | Dr M Goes Wild
    View December 25, 2015

    […] about hollyand ivy, possibly Christmas trees and poinsettias, and maybe even Brussels sprouts and parsnips. But I bet you don’t think about radishes. And yet, the humble radish (Raphanus sativus) plays an […]

    Reply
  4. A VLOG to celebrate the 5th birthday of the #AdventBotany blog series | Bazely Biology lab: collaborative, interdisciplinary, fun
    View April 26, 2019

    […] also contributed recipes to posts about dates and parsnips, although on checking, I discovered that link rot has set in to the parsnip and pear soup recipe. […]

    Reply
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