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That familiar sprig of greenery on the side of your dinner plate is
an edible breath freshener. Parsley is a clump-forming biennial to
about a 1 ft (0.3 m) tall and twice as wide. It has bright green
multi-compound curly or flat leaves. The leaflets are finely divided
and held at the end of long stems and the whole plant has a rounded,
mound-like shape. In its second summer, parsley sends up stalks with
compound umbels of small In the kitchen, parsley seems to help blend
other flavors. It ameliorates strong odors like garlic and fish. It
works well with most all foods except sweets. It's a principal
ingredient in Middle Eastern tabbouleh. The Japanese deep fry
parsley in tempura batter. The British make parsley jelly. The
Mexicans use it in salsa verde. The French use it in everything. The
Germans are especially fond of the root parsleys. The roots are
sliced or grated and used raw in salads. They also are used as
seasoning in soups and stews, or roasted, fried, mashed or made into
chips like potatoes. Like many root crops, parsley root is sweetened
by a good frost.
Frozen parsley retains more flavor than dried. If you do dry
parsley, the Italian varieties are better since they have a stronger
flavor to begin with. yellow flowers. |
