Parsnips Gone Wild!

No, these parsnips have not gone to Carlos ‘n Charlies in Cancun to hang upside down from the rafters and have tequila shooters sprayed into their mouths. (Didn’t you do that on Spring Break?) These parsnips, instead of growing a thick, single root, like what a carrot might look like on steroids, grew a smaller main root with multiple tentacles splaying out from the tops. Berry Patch Farms, poking fun at their variation from the standard parsnip, labeled them “Octosnips (Parsnips Gone Wild!)” Berry Patch Farms is located in Brighton, CO and sells vegetables at the year-round Denver Indoor Farmers’ Market.

Parsnips have been on my vegetable bucket list since seeing them at the farmers’ market in my former home of Portland, Oregon. I was encouraged to try them by the market manager. He said they were at their peak of sweetness. But somehow, parsnips and sweet just didn’t seem like two words that went together.