The last glacier-like snowdrifts melted from my Vermont garden a couple of weeks ago, and I immediately stepped into my mud boots and slogged through ankle-deep muck to reap the first harvest of spring: parsnips.
Parsnips? Spring? Aren’t parsnips a fall or winter vegetable?
That’s what I thought until a few years ago when my neighbor, an elderly Welshman, leaned over the garden fence one frosty October evening and said, “Are those parsnips? I love parsnips.” Taking the hint (and being in debt to him for a few August cucumbers), I offered him some. He gladly accepted, but when I moved over to the row with my spade, he put up a hand. “Not now,” he said. “Leave them right there in the ground. I’ll stop by for them in the spring. In Wales, we always overwinter our parsnips.”
I left a half dozen roots in the garden for each of us. There didn’t seem to be much to lose, since by that time of year I’ve usually had my fill of root vegetables anyway.
Four snowy months later, I understood what he meant. Time and the vagaries of our northern winter bring out the very best in parsnips. They are sweet and tender (so you have to be careful not to overcook them), and that parsnippy edge that turns some (misguided) diners off has been softened to a delicate perfume. Subject them to a little steam and a pat of butter, and the year’s first garden-fresh vegetables are ready for the table.
I now eat almost all of my parsnips the year after I plant them. I’m surprised that more gardeners and commercial produce growers don’t do the same. I have heard that parsnips occasionally appear in farmers markets in the spring, and while scouting out farm-to-table restaurants in Maine last June, I noticed that a few conscientious chefs were touting the vegetables on their menus. But the surest way to end up with delicious spring parsnips is to grow your own.
This weekend I’ll harvest the first asparagus from the patch on the back hill. Parsnip season will then be officially over. But on some sunny afternoon in May, I’ll head back into the garden and plant the seeds that will grow into next spring’s first harvest.
- Try some of Gourmet’s parsnip recipes:
- Braised Duck Legs with Shallots and Parsnips
- Parsnip Crisps
- Potato Parsnip Mash
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