Parsnip
Pastinaca sativa
A winter-sweetened taproot. Frost converts starch toward sugars. Wild/feral parsnip sap can photoblister skin — garden roots are still this species, handle flowering plants with care.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
What it is
A winter-sweetened taproot. Frost converts starch toward sugars. Wild/feral parsnip sap can photoblister skin — garden roots are still this species, handle flowering plants with care.
Edible portions
- roots
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. Biennial grown as annual; very hardy
- Light. Full sun
- Soil. Deep, loose, like carrot
- Planting. Direct-sow fresh seed (old seed fails). Long season.
- Harvest. After frost; they can overwinter in the ground.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Roast to caramelize
- Mash
Nutrition and compounds
- Vitamins (qualitative, well-known associations). vitamin C, folate, vitamin K — not milligram values.
AAA interpretation Food first. These associations explain why a plant shows up in a nutrient conversation — they are not a supplement shopping list.
Safety
- Flowering plants and sap plus sun can blister. Roots as food are the harvest; don’t weed-whack wild parsnip in shorts.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- USDA FoodData Central — nutrient profiles for foods (verify current entries; this page does not invent milligrams)
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.