Parsnip

Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is a biennial herb, but it is usually grown as a garden annual. It is hardy in USDA zones 2-9. Parsnip is native to Europe including Spain but not Portugal or Ireland. In traditional medicine the roots of wild parsnips are used to treat “stitches” in the side, flatulence, and colic.

Cultivated parsnips were enjoyed by the ancient Romans. The Art of Cooking is a manuscript cookbook compiled in the late 4th or early 5th centuries. It is based upon several sources including at least two 1st century manuscripts. In book III, section xxi, we learn that parsnips (pastinacae in the common Latin of the time) can be fried, served raw, or boiled then chopped and served with cumin-sauce.

When he issued the Capitulare de Villis in about 800 A.D., the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne required that parsnip (pastenacas in Carolingian Latin) be grown on all his imperial estates. In about 1000 A.D., Ælfric Bata recorded that parsnips were cooked and eaten daily by the Anglo-Saxons. In The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes (1597), John Gerard states that “The Parsneps nourish more than do the Turneps or the Carrots . . . they be good for the stomacke, kidneies, bladder and lungs.”

Development of the “Student parsnip” (Pastinaca sativa ‘Student‘) from wild parsnip seeds was initiated by Professor James Buckman at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, between 1847 and 1850. After a total of 28 generations of selection, the Student parsnip reached its final form in 1903. See “The Origin and History of Our Garden Vegetables and Their Dietetic Values. I. – Roots and Tubers.”, Rev. Professor Geo. Henslow, M.A., F.L.S., V.M.H., Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, Volume 36, Part I (July 19, 1910), pages 115-126, particularly pages 123-125. This heritage cultivar is still widely grown.

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