The Garden - Digging Parsnips

Digging Parsnips

Trimming, Cleaning and Freezing

We had a nice hard frost, so it is time to dig the parsnips.  The ground had thawed this afternoon, so it was not hard to dig.   We have the best yield of parsnips ever from our Elbert County garden. 

After the tops were trimmed off, we had ten pounds of parsnips! 

The next step is to wash them and break off the little root hairs that hold the dirt and bag them in approximate one pound bags (for our family of two).

Then they go straight into the freezer.  Unlike most other vegetables, that have to be blanched before freezing, parsnips will keep for up to a year in the freezer without blanching.  They may lose a little crispness, but they do not lose flavor; and since you almost always cook them to eat them, the loss of crispness is not missed in the final product.

Meanwhile, out in the garden, the empty bed is raked level and mulched with straw fort the winter.  We got twenty pounds of carrots and ten pounds of parsnips from this bed this year!