Spring Spoiling

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
Its a warm Spring and all those stored roots and veg from last year are sprouting and spoiling :censored:

Spuds are chitting

Chitting Potatoes by British Red, on Flickr

Parsnips left in the ground over Winter are sprouting

Sprouting Parsnips by British Red, on Flickr

Garlic left in the dark is greening up

Sprouting Garlic by British Red, on Flickr

My solution thus far is.....


Curried Parsnip Soup

Curried Parsnip Soup by British Red, on Flickr

But if anyone has recipe ideas for my last 50 pounds of parsnips, I'm all ears (and parsnips)!
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Parsnip crisps are good :)
You can also roast them and freeze them successfully. Just mind and bag them in portion sizes not in bulk.
Boiled (well, peeled and chopped and steamed in the microwave in a pyrex casserole) is very successful for parsnips, and they mash well if done like that and butter and black pepper added. Again, they freeze well, though I'm pretty sure they'd jar well too. (my freezer died this week, after four days waiting for a replacement, I'm being cagey about freezing food. I have 6lbs of rasps, 4 of blackcurrants, 2 of strawberries, and 4 of brambles, to use up, and I don't need any more jam, syrup, or sorbet :sigh: )

Cut them into batons, blanche and then drain, pack in pickling jars and preserve like cornichons. Good in stir fries :)

It's still a heck of a load of parsnips to get through. Himself likes them but I'm not terribly keen. I'm inclined to think the French have the best idea of using them to feed pigs and other domesticated animals; I always think they're somehow soapy. Currying them's probably the best bet :D

M
 
Last edited:

bobnewboy

Native
Jul 2, 2014
1,292
847
West Somerset
Now that's just about the best use I've heard for them. Get the animals to eat the foul things then eat them :D

Nooooooooo! Parsnips are better than spuds to me! As Toddy says, mashed with butter and black pepper....mmmmmmm. Or roasted, yum yum.

Not sure even I, as a happy fat bloke, could get through that many though :)
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
While I mind, they dry well too. I sliced them up length ways into 5mm slices, cut them up lengthways again and then across the way into wee cubes. I nuked them in the lidded pyrex dish, drained them and dehydrated them on top of the silicon sheets I use for fruit leathers. Good dried veg for broth, etc., if mixed with carrots, celeriac, neeps and peas. They lose a tremendous amount of weight and bulk doing this to them. If you get the mix of veggies really dry they whizz up into powder really well in the coffee grinder, add some celery and some mustard seed too, and it makes dry veggie stock powder :D

M
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Toddy: if "crisps" = our French Fries, they are so elegant for a change. Same for carrots and yams.

BR: have you got freezer space? I've never had much success keeping cold/fresh carrots or parsnips.
Skin them (>compost), coarse dice, blanch and freeze. Steamed veggies on a winter night are true comfort.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
I've frozen a load Robson, but will freeze more along with some Swede I also have a huge surplus of. Then some parsnip wine I think.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
No, chips are your French Fries, crisps are usually thin slices of potato fried until crispy and golden. I have no idea what Americans call them; I thought it was crisps :D
Parsnips, beetroot, etc., make good crisps too though :cool:

M

p.s. I googled, and apparantly Americans call crisps Potato Chips…..it's all rather confusing.
Think of them as vegetable chips then :D
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Ain't semantics wonderful?
OK Your "chips" are our "French Fries", or simply in context: "fries."
Next, your "crisps" are our "potato chips" but you can start a fire with dried buffalo chips.
I've made crisps from carrot, yam and parsnip. Never a need to contemplate keeping qualities in my house.

I believe there's a great deal of cultural stodginess here = yam/parsnip/carrot all beat the hello out of fried potato products.
One winter, I took it upon myself to learn to make extremely excellent yam fries (trendy in the pubs).
Since done this with both carrots and parsnips = major dinner surprise.

1tbs flour, 1 tbs mixed herb/spice seasoning as you wish, in a large plastic bag.
Seasoned salt+pepper+garlic powder, etc. . . . . even curry powder if you dare.
Large cake rack over the sink, 1" oil coming up to 370F in a deep pot on the stove.
Put all the cut yam fries into the bag and bounce them around to coat evenly.
Dump on the cake rack to shed the excess.
Into the oil for 3min30sec. 4 min is too long. Drain and eat, a seasoned mayonnaise is nice.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Are your Swedes our neeps BR ? big yellow things ?
They make great mash too :D That's what we had for dinner last night, mashed spuds, mashed neeps with butter and black pepper, vegetarian haggis (don't knock it; it's good, even carnivores like it :D) and gingered carrots. T'was good food :D

Hadn't thought of seasoning the crisps before frying them RV, and I need to figure out 370F in C :eek: I have only done the after cooking shake them in a bag of seasoning stuff, and then quickly into a hottish oven to dry off for a minute or so.
Does frying the powder not make an awful mess in the oil ?

M
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
Turnips are small and white, swedes are larger, purple on the outside, yellow inside. Vital in a pasty.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
In the middle of doing my weekly bread>cold and windy today. Might make 3 x 14" pizza crusts and half bake to freeze.
Maybe focaccia-seasoned fougasse instead. Don't feel like carving.

The local pub owner told me they use nothing but onion powder on their yam fries. I tried but not the same result.
Enough of the coating comes off in the oil that there's some "sludge" that settles out when the oil cools.
I've taken to giving the cake rack an extra thump or two beforehand. I can save maybe 90% of the oil that's cleared
overnight. Have an old Melitta coffee drip filter thing, I can filter the oil quite well with that but very slow.

Actually, I should try making turnip fries. Can't imagine why that would not work.
370F on my oil thermometer is about 175-180C.

Dark day heretoday, major explosion and fire in the caravan park, 200yrd from my house.
HELLO of a thump on my house and windows and black smoke for 45 minutes. Strong N wind.
Ambulance drove away very slowly a couple of hours later. Not a good sign.

HA! Here we go again = Swedes are all we ever see as turnips!
 

bilmo-p5

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 5, 2010
8,168
9
west yorkshire
Parsnip jam?

+1 for the mash. Yummity yum.
t2808.gif
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
Neeps are big and yellow inside, swedes are sommat else, but navets are the wee white ones with pinkish tops. Turnips are also known as tumshies.

https://www.veooz.com/photos/NI8hS7C.html

I wasn't thinking so much about saving the oil RV, more that it would smell of burning as the crisps were cooked. Garlic burns easily, I meant.

I used to make up a dredging mixture for crisps, but it had powdered milk in it rather than wheat flour. Can't face it now :sigh:

I hope the explosion and fire hasn't caused your property any damage; still doesn't sound good about the ambulance though, does it ?

M
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE