A parsnip is a pale, homely and underloved root vegetable that looks something like an anemic carrot. Parsnips have a slightly sweet flavor that peaks during the fall and winter.
Parsnips can be baked, steamed, sautéed, boiled or served mashed like potatoes. Parsnips have been around since ancient times, and the Romans believed them to be aphrodisiacs. Today, they are a fixture of the staid English Sunday Roast, parboiled and then roasted with the cooking juices and fat from the beef. A bit of curry wakes them up, and they work well in stews and soups. The French like to use cooled creamed parsnips to make deep-fried croquettes.
Related: Root Source: Parsnip (Cookthink)
Recipe: Pan-Roasted Monkfish With Coconut Mashed Parsnips (Cookthink)
A turnip is a fleshy, white, bulbous root vegetable with a purple top that grows easily around the world and is eaten by man and beast alike.
Turnips are best consumed young and sweet, as like most of us they become bitter and coarse with age. Keep them in a cool place until you're ready to boil, steam, mash, glaze or purée them. Turnips can also be eaten raw.
European in origin, turnips are used frequently in Britain and France in stews and soups, including the traditional French pot-au-feu. Because they can absorb fat easily, they are often served with fatty meats such as duck.
Turnip greens are a soul food staple that may be boiled, sautéed, steamed or stir-fried.
Look for smaller turnips with unblemished skin that are firm to the touch and heavy for their size. (Larger turnips tend to be woody and rough-tasting.)
If you can, buy turnips that still have their bright green tops and use them in the same way you use mustard greens.
Spring turnips are more delicate than their robust winter counterparts, and should not be left to languish in the vegetable bin.
A Macomber turnip is a local legend in Massachusetts.
According to an honorary plaque on Main Road in Westport, Massachusetts, Aiden and Elihu Macomber returned from the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876 with a prized turnip seed in their pockets, which they planted in the fertile fields of their home town. The fruit of these seeds produced Pure Bristol White turnips that were descended from Swedish and Russian rutabagas and soon became famous from Boston to Providence.
To this day, the turnip remains a symbol of local pride.
