Parsnips: the Taste of Winter

The parsnips grew beautifully this year.  They thrust down their milky fingers deep into the soil and seemed to grasp hold of the earth.  More than one broke as I was digging them out earlier this month and they were so juicy that the sap immediately gathered in beads on the open end.

Now we are eating them.  To sweeten a soup they are divine; roasted with potatoes and pumpkin (also from the garden) they are excellent; but boiled and mashed to purée we cannot have them.  Carmen has discovered they make her 'repeat'.  It's a shame: mashed parsnips with a sprinkle of black pepper are a real wintry taste.

We used a whole bed to plant parsnips because you cannot buy them in Spain.  What is more, if you go into a shop and ask for 'chirivías', the Spanish word for parnsips, the shop assistant will more than likely look at you as though you are asking for jellied wombat.

There is no getting away from growing your own, then.  And I have learnt a lesson for next year: add a little sand into the clayey soil, to make the harvesting a little easier!