Parsnip 'Harris Model'

I left my plants in the garden to overwinter, and pulled them up in early April. Boy, were they sweet! The plant produced nice, straigh...Read Moret, good-sized roots. A nice, trouble-free addition to my veggie garden (although harvesting them is a bit of work - they grow down deep).

I nice big straight parsnip. I love 'em.

The Parsnip is an ancient root vegetable dating back to the Roman empire. In my youth, when storage of fresh foods in the winter time was...Read More well nigh an impossibility, The root cellar or root kilns were all important. Potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets and parnips filled them. Actually parsnips could be left in the ground as freezing didn't seem to hurt them. Couldn't dig them in frozen ground, so some were always placed in the root cellar. They are easier to grow then a carrot and take all season. I can't say that I like them especially mashed like Irish potatoes. They are o.k. in stews and soups, but as a kid it was mashed parsnips with butter. Note that I haven't grown them in fifty years. Harris Model was the cultivar grown. Hollow Crown another cultivar still available is probably not too different.