Pastinaca sativa

Pastinaca sativa

I have developed a fascination for for the family of plants known in Latin as Umbelliferae (or Apiaceae for those handicapped by post-modernism), or in English as the carrot family. The Latin name refers to the compound umbels that serve as a recognizable unifying characteristic of the family. An umbel is when many flower stalks branch from a single point, and a compound umbel is when each stalk branches again into a smaller umbel. You can see simple umbels in onions, for example, but compound umbels are almost exclusive to Umbelliferae. This makes the family very easy to recognize, but unfortunately the genuses and species generally all look very similar, making it a challenge to correctly identify them. Actually, I find that the smells can be very distinctive, but those are rarely described in botanical references. The carrot family has many common food and spices, such as the aforementioned carrot, and also parsnips (see below), celery, fennel, cumin, dill, coriander, parsley, caraway, anise, lovage, and chervil. I have previously written in this blog about Osmorhiza occidentalis (sweetroot), Perideridia gairdneri (yampah), and Orogenia linearifolia. The seeds contain various volatile oils which is why so many of them make great spices. But this chemically active family also contains a couple very poisonous plants, namely poison hemlock and water hemlock. And because it is difficult to distinguish the poisonous plants from the good tasting plants, it is recommended that most people not eat any members of the carrot family, unless they are very sure about the species. Keep that in mind as you read on.

domestic parsnips
compared to wild parsnips

Part of my fascination for the family, besides the great foods I find, is the challenge of identifying them correctly. So I often stop to key out members of the family using a botanical key, such as the Utah Flora, for example. Recently I was pleased and surprised to key out Parsnips, or Pastinaca sativa. This is a wild or escaped version of the well-known garden parsnip. It is the same species, and basically the same in every way, except that the roots are not as large. So I also bought a couple at the store, to make a direct comparison.

But first, there is the problem of identifying the plant in the wild. The real answer is the get a botanical key and practice, practice, practice. But here are a few tips for this species. First, you will recognize the compound umbels of the carrot family. This species has yellow flowers (about half the family is white-flowered and half is yellow-flowered). The seeds are about 6mm tall, greenish, flattened and smooth when young. When older, the seeds are brown with darker stripes. They separate easily into two even flatter halves. The leaves come off the stem (i.e. they are not basal), and are pinnately compound, with about six pairs of sessile leaflets, which are both lobed and toothed. The whole plant is 1 to 2 meters tall, and has several compound umbels per plant, typically 7 or more (which is a lot for an Umbellierae under 2 meters tall). All this is helpful, but not certain for identifying the species. As I mentioned before the smell is more distinguishing than the appearance. Pull up a root, and it will smell like parsnip, which is a bright carroty smell. If you have gotten this far, you have identified the second year of a biennial plant, so the root, just like a second year carrot you let overwinter in your garden, will be tough and woody after expending its stored energy in growing the seed stalk. Look around some more, and find the same leaves growing directly from the ground (i.e. basal) without a tall stalk. These are the first-year plants, which will have good edible roots. The first-year roots hold on to the soil much better than the second-year roots and have only tender leaves instead of a tough stalk, so you will actually have to dig for them, rather than just pull them up.

The taste of wild parsnip roots is very similar to domestically grown parsnips. Domestic parsnips are larger, and have a smoother texture. The wild parsnips have a bit more of a fibrous texture, so you will probably want to cut it in pieces with a knife. It is good either raw or cooked. The flavor is milder than domestic parsnips. I prefer the flavor of the wild parsnips raw. After boiling for about 5 minutes the flavor becomes quite mild and the texture is soft and easy to chew. The domestic parsnips have an even smoother texture when boiled and retain more of their flavor when cooked, so I preferred the flavor of cooked domestic parsnips better. Both lose a lot of their flavor in the water. I have only eaten parsnips before in Europe, where they are used as a sort of generic soup vegetable, which is sometimes removed from the soup before serving, because they will often just use it to flavor the soup broth. The water from boiling the roots has a nice brothy flavor, which is why adding this root to soups is one of the best uses for it.