Pleased With My Parsnips

It's fall and we have had several frosts now. Naturally I have been working hard getting all the veggie places ready for the winter; however, due to the fact that some veg is still in the ground, I have had to postpone putting the fork in here and there.

I like to wait until there have been a few frosts before pulling-up my parsnips. I have the idea that it gives them a better taste (being a bit frozen, I mean). I wanted to see if it was time to harvest or not.
Yesterday I lifted a "test root" to see how the 'snips were coming along. My bride eased the fork into the soft soil alongside the broad back of the parsnip and I kept an upward tension on the foliage. After a few wiggles it slid right out--sort of like delivering a baby.....it was time!

I had a huge grin and chattered aloud like a gold-panner finding that elusive "king nugget" at last.
After a short discussion we decided to lift anoither...and then another...and then....
Well, finally --after we had lifted seven or so, we sort of decided that we'd just lift the lot.
There were some too badly forked, and my partner said, "Ach, I'll just cut off the side branch and handle it as a separate one". There were some smallish ones and she said, "Ach, those are the size that one buys in the market--that's the size they are really supposed to be".
You have to admire her positive attitude. Wink

The thing that really pulled me over though was the fact that I saw that the very distal-most tips of a couple of the longer ones had some sticky, gray clay on them.
Past experience has shown that if I let the 'snips stay with their 'feet' in the water layer, rot will set-in and eventually the whole parsnip will be ruined.
The soil in the new garden is very un-deep and I have been working to build-up that topsoil. I add compost and vegital elements every year, increasing the top layer as much as I can. The average length of the 'snips was 14 inches, so as you can see--that isn't deep at all.

I was really pleased with the haul and I called-out that I wanted some camera time.
Here is the armload of 16 lovely pastinaken. That's our word for them...you know, like Boris Pastinak. They were fresh out of the soil and looking their garden-best. It is a sight that only a gardner could love.

...There's 'garden-best', and then there's 'kitchen-best'...that is to say, cleaned.

My garden neighbour, Willem was working across the way and saw what we were doing and of course had to see and ask questions.
I offered him one...he was a bit hesitant, but when I told him that they tasted a bit like carrots, he took "one to try". Smile

I could not believe it, but Willem had never eaten or grown pastinaak...and he's one of the "old hands" on the complex. Shocked

At any rate he felt moved to offer me some of his carrots and went and pulled a few. The trade wasn't fair, but it made us both happy. Bedankt, Wullum!

...and here they are--all laid out on the hedge drying. Don't those guys look good!

Well, I can tell you that there was feasting in the House of Sjoerd last night: We had Hutspot made with the fresh carrots and big meatballs with gravy. Very Dutch, and very delicious.
The Parsnips were processed and put in the freezer. There were eleven freezer bags full. Well chuffed, I wuz.

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Sjoerd http://www.volkstuindersvereniginghoornenomstreken.nl/Page11.html

Let us hear how those 'snips were, won't you DAISY? I am very curiuous what the store-bought one there will look like. I would actuallly expect to see them looking quite uniform and clean. If your supermarket's supplier are like the commercial growers over here, they grow their parsnips in a very sandy soil and feed them with fertilizer. One of the problems with my soil is that there are pebbels here and there--and you know what that means. Sad

Anyway...good luck at the grocer's.

Hee hee hee--TONY, I'm surprised that you even read the posting. Very Happy

Well, you know how it goes--taste is very personal. I think that even if I didn't like them, I'd grow them for the Food Bank--it's just so much fun harvesting them.

Thanks, EJ--if they look good to you, then they MUST be good. hahaha.
I didn't get a very good germination rate this year, but what did germinate, did well. I wish that I could leave them in the ground all winter here, but the soil layer above the water table is just too shallow in the new garden.--They don't call Holland "the Low Countries" for nothing. Wink

I coule leave them in the ground longer over in the old garden, but that ground is more compact.

Your mash sounds very tasty. I could picture myself sitting doen to a plate full of THAT! Razz

That's right, Emma--no canker whatsoever. I am pleased with that. With this wetish weather that we always have here, if I leave the snips in too long, they will get canker, and also become voos. I think that means something like "spongy", but a somewhat fibrous sort of spongy. One can't eat it then.

I like having water on the complex, although I do not always clean all the beetroots, parsnips etc. before taking them home. It sure is handy though when the soil is so wet that it clings to the veg.

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Sjoerd http://www.volkstuindersvereniginghoornenomstreken.nl/Page11.html