category: food/groceries: vegetables: root vegetables

Parsnip, bot.: Pastinaca sativa ssp. sativa, de.: Pastinake, Pasterna, Moorwurzel, fr.: patenais

Parsnips belong to the botanical carrot family (bot.: Umbelliferae, Apicaceae) and are tuber vegetables. Until the middle of the 18th century it was a staple food in many European countries. While potatoes and carrots became increasingly popular, parsnips lost more and more of its importance. Nowadays it has been rediscovered and is a well known and liked vegetable in the USA, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Hungary, and Scandinavia. In other countries like Germany it has started to have a slow comeback through the health- and wholefood movement.

The health- and wholefood movement has long been using parsnips because of their aromatic and spicy taste. The color of the root ranges from white to cream. It is well liked as a aromatic vegetable or soup vegetable.