Parsnips are nearly as old as time! They were no more popular during my favorite
vintage period of the 1950s and 60s as in all other times! I introduced myself to parsnips twenty years
ago when I made a recipe for Winter White Soup, a creamed soup using
only white root vegetables. To my
knowledge, I’d never had a parsnip prior
to that!Parsnips should not be confused with white
carrots. Although a part of the carrot
and parsley family, their flavor is slightly different. They are sweet like carrots but have a bite of
an earthy tone that makes me think of nuts.
Parsnips are often hidden in recipes!
They are used in soups, sometimes mashed as a thickening agent. They are cubed and sliced and dropped in vegetable
soups. They are cooked whole in the
preparation of stocks and sauces, sometimes removed and sometimes left in and
pureed for thickening. Medium sized parsnips are the best. The ones left in the ground through the winter
are the sweetest. There is so much
flavor on the outside peel … don’t peel them!
Use a vegetable brush to clean them.
Native to the Eurasian continent, parsnips really have
been around forever. Writings of the
Greeks and Romans note that it was difficult to differentiate between parsnips
and carrots. Carrots were white and
purple during those times. Both
vegetables were cultivated by the Romans.
Roman Emperor Tiberius like parsnips so much that he accepted a tribute
to Rome from Germany … mostly made of of parsnips! Prior to the use of beets to process sugar,
parsnips were used for that purpose.
The plants found their way to North America when
French colonists took them to Canada, and British colonists took them to the
Thirteen Colonies. Parsnips were used as
a starchy vegetable and not until the middle 1800s were they replaced by
potatoes!
By the late 1800s, parsnips had regained popularity in England and in America. England’s Royal Agricultural College cross cultivated some plants with wild stock and created an improved vegetable that was sweeter and easier to grow.
Today I’m sharing a recipe that is brand new to
me! We recently visited my son-in-law’s
uncle’s farm and he invited us to take all the pears we could carry from this
beautiful pear tree. Many of the pears
had fallen to the ground and the kids enjoyed shaking the branches so more fell! We left with bags of pears and I couldn’t
wait to find an unusual recipe for them.
Of course, just eating them fresh might be the best way to enjoy them!
As I was thumbing through my vintage cookbooks, a neat
recipe jumped right out! This puree of
pears and parsnips is delicious. I
adjusted the recipe to make me happy, and I encourage you to try it. Think “mash up” instead of “baby food puree”! Think chunky applesauce!
Parsnip and Pear Mash
4 ripe pears
4 medium sized parsnips
¼ cup honey
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
Peel and slice the pears. If you have over-ripe spots, use that
too. Scrub and slice the parsnips. Cook the pears and parsnips and the sprigs of
thyme with a cup of water in a crock pot.
Cook them on low for 6 – 8 hours.
Drain off the juice, but keep it for another purpose, and put the pears
and parsnips in a food processor. Blend
to the consistency that you prefer. If
you like chunky applesauce, leave some chunks in this too!
This can be frozen.
Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator.
Serve it warm, room temperature or cold. I plan to serve it at Christmastime!
This is a part of my 2020 Vintage Vegetable
Project! Click the menu to find similar
posts. I’ll be sharing with a couple
blog parties, so click through the list on my sidebar! Enjoy!
