Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: sianb on August 26, 2010, 20:18
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Hello ive just roasted one of our parsnips from the allotment and it was not nice. very tough skin and soft in the middle but it smelt lovely any ideas please.
sianb
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personal opinion -- it is very early to be taking parsnips -- better after some frost on them when they will have sweetened up. Always use very fresh and never let dry out. I take ours from about Nov to Jan/feb only We did pull one by mistake last week when weeding so wife used it even though small and it was fine she said.
Incidentally I hate parsnips anyway so only grow them for others to enjoy.
R
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As said, a bit early to be digging up this years parsnips, Christmass is about the earlest I would pick.
We roast them in with either the spuds or in base of meat tray.
Based with honey is very nice...we have lots of honey spare.
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Way too early.
Peel before cooking.
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Grow enough so that you can freeze some which have suffered (!) a hard frost to last you until the following Winter.
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yes too early for them. They do need the frost to bring out their natural sweetness - without that frost they are not that amazing to eat. It's like the difference between raw cake mix and the cooked version!!! Once they have had some frost they turn into this stunningly flavoured vegetable.
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Mine are only about as thick as string, i acidently pulled one up when weeding, are mine at the right stage, just made me panic after seeing that someone is actually harvesting theres allready :ohmy:
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Agree with others, way, way too early, Nov onwards...I've eaten a couple as "thinnings", but they were 12-18" long, so goodness knows waht they'll be like come the first frosts!!!
I love a good snip!
Phill :) :)
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Mine are only about as thick as string
Had a furtle round some of mine the other day and the shoulders are about one inch across 8)
A couple of months and a few frosts and I'll be in parsnip paradise.
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Sorry but we have eaten some of mine and they're smashing :)
I didn't sow them untill 19th May so was a bit surprised to find they are not a bad size and they taste lovely.
Dug these yesterday :)
(http://i36.tinypic.com/2rrxv2t.jpg)
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Show off ;) :tongue2: 8)
Mind you, Cornwall is a different country. They do things differently there ;) ::) :lol:
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Mind you, Cornwall is a different country. They do things differently there ;) ::) :lol:
Yeh, usually wearing a rain coat :lol: :lol: :lol:
Seriously tho, i've found parsnips do much better and seem to grow quicker if sown late.
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Seriously tho, i've found parsnips do much better and seem to grow quicker if sown late.
You could well be right :)
I didn't sow mine until the last week in April this year and they look to be the best I've ever grown. Already tried a couple a few weeks ago.
Personally, I think they taste great whether frosted or not :)
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Mine are only about as thick as string
Last year I had an enormous variation in the size of my parsnips - from tiny through to things like baseball bats. So don't panic if you've only seen one snip, the others might be monsters.
Seriously tho, i've found parsnips do much better and seem to grow quicker if sown late.
The riverford farm cookbook says exactly the same thing - wait until the soil has heated up before sowing.
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Likewise, I've waited to sow until April rather than Feb up here.
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yes too early for them. They do need the frost to bring out their natural sweetness - without that frost they are not that amazing to eat. It's like the difference between raw cake mix and the cooked version!!! Once they have had some frost they turn into this stunningly flavoured vegetable.
And what may i ask is wrong with raw cake mix ? One of my favourites. :) :D
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Does putting parsnips in the freezer have the same effect or do they need to be growing for the sweetening effect to take place? The same is true of sprouts I believe.
Any other veg effected like this, anyone know?
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I have heard of the freezer trick but never tried it so can't vouch for it.
Not heard of it for other veg, but again I don't grow the devil's own footballs (otherwise known as sprouts) so I'm not really a lot of use on this post ::) :D
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I not convinced that the frost thing is true even with parsnips with the modern varieties, and there are sprouts that start cropping from Sept so they would be ready before a frost anyway.
I start digging parsnips as soon as they are big enough and cant tell any real difference in the ones dug after a frost.
Ive heard about putting parsnips in the veg drawer of the fridge for a couple of weeks and i do that if i dig more than i need but cant say i've noticed any difference but i may not have the refined palate that's needed :D I just love parsnips :tongue2: The best crisps are homemade parsnip crisps :happy: