What Does Parsley Root Taste Like

A while ago I was removing some self-seeded parsley from my vegetable garden to make space to plant other things, and I noticed how long parsley's root is. This is large enough that it could be eaten as a root vegetable.

They varied considerably, the largest were about a foot long, and 2 or so inches wide, smaller ones were pencil thin and not very long. Most plants had a single tap root like a white skinny carrot, while a few plants had roots that were a little forked.

To be clear, I am not talking about the plant bred for root production known as ‘Hamburg parsley’, or ‘Dutch parsley’, or ‘turnip-rooted parsley’. I am talking about the roots of regular parsley whose leaves I use as a herb (I know in some countries it is acceptable to say “an herb” but I just can’t bring myself to do that as it sounds so absurd unless you mispronounce the word herb. I have also been told that it is correct to use the term “a herb” here in Australia).

Parsley roots

I tried to grow Hamburg root parsley once in the past, but the seeds I bought were too old to germinate by the time they arrived in the mail. I complained to Diggers that when they posted them to me the seeds were already a year past their expiry date. I was initially given excuses, when I pushed my point they begrudgingly sent replacement seeds.

These replacement seeds that Diggers sent me only had 1 month until the expiry date that was printed on the packet. Needless to say none of those seeds germinated either, and my distrust of Diggers club and their dodgy shameful practices started to grow...

Parsley leaf

Another parsley leaf - my plants grow large

As I had some parsley plants that I had already dug up I decided to eat their roots, but I wanted to know what they tasted like. I looked on the internet to know what to expect the parsley root to taste like.

I read that the odour is warm-woody, spicy, somewhat sweet herbaceous. Or they taste sweet, earthy and herbaceous. I have also seen it described as a taste between celery and carrots with a little parsley leaf and turnip. I found mention that parsley root has a more delicate, sweeter and more herbal taste than a parsnip. Confusingly I have read that “parsnip is sweet; parsley root is not”.

None of these descriptions were overly useful, some were contradictory, so I decided to taste some parsley root raw as well as roasted.

Parsley leaves: flat parsley at the top, my improved parsley underneath

I am really bad at describing taste. To me the raw parsley root was herbaceous, earthy, and spicy. It was kind of carroty, certainly not without its charm but not the greatest. I don’t think I would be able to eat very much raw before it would overpower me. That being said, once I ate some I wanted more not long afterwards. Just thinking about the taste of raw parsley root makes me want to eat more right now, which is odd because it wasn't all that remarkable when raw.

While raw parsley root tasted ok, roasted it was a completely different story!

I don’t really enjoy raw carrot, but I love roasted carrot. I kind of like raw skirret, but I adore roast skirret. In the same light, raw parsley root was ok, roasted parsley root was far superior.

Roasted parsley root tasted similar to roast carrot, or roast parsnip, but better, and herby. Parsley root kind of tasted similar to skirret, but not quite as good. If you have ever eaten skirret you will understand that this is extremely high praise!

The parsley roots I ate were all rather long, and fat enough, but they all had an inedible woody core that was even difficult to cut with a knife. I used my teeth to scrape off the soft flesh and I discarded the core. The roots I ate were all from volunteer plants that had self-seeded, so they had been through times of no water and other times where I harvested their leaves. Some were flowering while others were one year old plants. Most had a lot of competition and were crowded by nearby plants.

I don’t know if the woody core was caused by neglect or if they always have the woody core. I also don’t know how they compare to the varieties bred for root production such as Hamburg rooted parsley as I have never eaten one.

Parsley plants with long tap root

Earlier I grew a remarkable plant that may have been a parsley x skirret hybrid, or it may have been a massive leaf parsley. I don’t actually know yet but I suspect it is just a really impressive parsley. If it was just a massive leaf parsley, then its seedlings should also grow tremendously long and fat roots. I am growing out some of its seedlings, and I have let seed fall for its seedlings to volunteer, so we will see what happens.

So there you have it, to me raw parsley root tastes ok, and roasted parsley root tastes great.  I have been sent some seeds of a variety of root parsley, I plan to grow them out and see what they are like.  If all goes well I will have another great tasting vegetable that I can't buy at the markets, and self seeds readily in my garden.