Monster Parsnip Harvest

Thursday 29th November 2012

 

 

Of late we have had some very dirty geese.
For they have discovered the delights of the remains of the potato harvest and have started digging deep for them.
This I did not mind... until they discovered the parsnips!








I had been waiting for the frost to sweeten the parsnips, though last year this strategy did not work as the carrot flies delighted in the late season meal. But with no carrots this year, I thought the risk was worth it.









I was expecting good things from the parsnips this year. Even as thinnings they were close on a foot long. And I was not disappointed. Most went down further than I could excavate and were huge. Strangely, just a few had totally failed to develop any root at all - maybe they were hit by slugs when young, or is this just something that happens sometimes?







Back when we bought our first house, over 20 years ago, all the furniture we had was a dozen tea chests to serve as tables, storage vessels and seats. Some have now rotted away, having spent years in damp cellars or cold lofts, but a few have survived our various abuses. So today, one of them became my winter parsnip storage.

Any parsnips damaged while being dug up, plus the couple of 3-legged oddities, got cooked and whizzed into parsnip and ginger soup. The rest are buried in neat regiments in the tea chest and stored in the cool, dark garage.
Hopefully they'll provide us with tasty treats through the winter.