[Goosegirl]

Can anyone tell me why my parsnips have a  bitter taste?  I have grown all sorts of different varieties for several years and have improved my raised beds on silty soil with home-made compost, rotted hen and sheep manure/straw and bought some top soil to raise the level, and I believe the pH is about neutral to alkaline. I also rotate my crops so they are grown on the bed that the potatoes were in the previous year. I sow direct in March/April and, this year, although an improvement on previous years, were whoppers so am wondering if I am sowing too early and that they stay in the ground too long and get too big - but then you may not get the frosts after Crimbo to make them sweeter which we have had this year in plenty!

[Trillium]

In general, parsnips tend to have a bitter taste, and the bigger the root, the more likely it will have some bitterness. Also, older parsnips will turn bitter so age and size are something to watch for. Your particular soil might perpetuate some bitterness as well and there's little to be done about that other than start your parsnips later and harvest them younger.
If that still doesn't help, then you can simply trim the outside and discard the woody core before cooking (that’s the bitter part). Or you can add a few pinches of sugar to the cooking water and that eliminates the bitterness.

To avoid most of these problems, parsnips can be quartered, blanched and frozen, or pureed into mash and frozen in tubs.

[Ivor Backache]

Its very difficult to discuss your taste of parsnips! Trillium has probably got it right.
However we grow things for the taste and it is so disapointing when things turn out wrong.
I grow 'student' and sow in toilet rolls in February for planting out in March/April. Parsnips are the longest growing vegitable, and they occupy the plot for a full year.
You seem to have tried all the variations so may I suggest that you grow a row as normal but alongside it grow another row with a made up soil medium- ie dig out a trench and fill it with (a) imported soil, or (b) made up soil/ compost/leaf mould. or (c) experiment.

I don't feed root crops at all. Add leaf mould to break up the soil perhaps. You have obviously got something right because you get the full root.

[azubah]

How do you cook your parsnips? I would not eat boiled parsnips. I can't stand the taste, but roast parsnips are yummy and usually sweet. Even the hard cores cook to softness when roasted.
We sowed ours in February in toilet roll insides, so I don't think the timing is the problem.
I usually cut our parsnips into strips longways and fry them in the chip pan for a few minutes and then put them in the oven at 200C for 1/2-3/4 hour until well browned. I like mine slightly overdone.

[Goosegirl]

My OH does the cooking  - he's a trained chef, although I can cook too! He par-boils them with plenty of added sugar then roasts them in a mustard glaze. I think I will sow them later this year then I can harvest them after the drosts as they shouldn't have grown so big as they did this year. Thanks all! 

[galen]

My OH didn't like the parsnips this weekend, lovely last week, too sweet this