Parsley: More than a garnish

“Pars­ley is the crown of cook­ery. It once crowned man, now it crowns his food.”

— Irma Goodrich Mazza

Pars­ley is one of the most ver­sa­tile and pop­u­lar herbs today. There is a rea­son why about every restau­rant uses it on their plates. It’s not just that it’s pretty or that it adds color, but it’s full of Vit­a­min A, C, E foli­ate, fiber, iron and min­er­als. Used as a breath fresh­ener, palate cleanser and diges­tive, it can’t be beat.

Her­cules picked pars­ley to make cer­e­mo­nial wreaths for ath­letes and later for gravesites. As pars­ley took root in ceme­ter­ies it became asso­ci­ated with death. The Romans used it as a diges­tive fol­low­ing their big cer­e­mo­nial feasts in ancient times. Grown orig­i­nally as a Mediter­ranean plant it is now well trav­eled through­out the world. It is thought to have reached the United States as early as the 1600s when it was trans­ported here by the Pil­grims on the Mayflower.

Vari­eties of pars­ley are lim­ited when com­pared to other well known herbs. The best fla­vored is the flat leaf or Ital­ian pars­ley, Pet­roselinum crispum neapoli­tanum, com­mon curly pars­ley, Pet­roselinum crispum and an under­used but valu­able rooted pars­ley or Ham­burg, Pet­roselinum crispum tuberasu. Curly pars­ley is less fla­vor­ful, but is a neat, tidy, bril­liant green color that is ideal for a bor­der plant. The Ham­burg root can be shred­ded in a salad or used as a root veg­etable like beets or potatoes.

Pars­ley is con­sid­ered a bien­nial but is usu­ally grown as an annual. The first year leaves are bet­ter fla­vored and brighter col­ored. The sec­ond year the leaves are much smaller and spaced fur­ther apart. You should plan to buy new plants in the spring for a plen­ti­ful sup­ply through­out the grow­ing sea­son. I also plant one in my cold frame so the sea­son of fresh pars­ley can be extended. Pars­ley likes sunny loca­tions, with a well drained soil. It can grow between 6 and 18 inches tall and wide. Trim reg­u­larly to keep the plant com­pact and dishes tast­ing great. It does not like to be trans­planted, so once planted don’t move it. A few light frosts will not destroy pars­ley, but heavy frosts can, so pick­ing before tem­per­a­tures reach 20 degrees and under is advised. Pars­ley likes a light liq­uid fer­til­izer or a monthly shot of fish emul­sion. It has very lit­tle if any insect prob­lems, mak­ing it an easy herb to grow. You may encounter the pars­ley worm or cater­pil­lar which can eat the leaves. They can be hand­picked, or left alone since they turn into the beau­ti­ful black swal­low­tail butterfly.

The ver­sa­til­ity of pars­ley is per­fect for cook­ing. Use in pasta sauces, soup, pota­toes, eggs and any savory dish. It’s essen­tial for salsa verde (Mex­ico), tab­bouleh (Mid­dle East), chimichurri (Argentina), per­sil­lade (France), and gre­mo­lata (Italy). Pars­ley is an herb that does not com­pete with other top note herbs like basil or rose­mary. It is one of the herbs used in Fines Herbes, a sea­son­ing mix­ture that includes basil, chives, tar­ragon, and thyme; and Bou­quet Garni, an herb med­ley usu­ally tied up in a piece of cheese­cloth and immersed into soups or stews.

The leaves along with mixed greens make for a won­der­ful salad, adding fla­vor and vit­a­mins. The stems can be used chopped along with the leaves adding more fla­vor to your dishes. You can fol­low any stan­dard recipe for pesto, but sub­sti­tute pars­ley for half the basil for a slightly dif­fer­ent fla­vor. Add pars­ley toward the end of your cook­ing for max­i­mum fla­vor, as heat destroys its valu­able vit­a­mins and minerals.

Pars­ley is a good can­di­date for pre­serv­ing. You can dry by hang­ing it upside down in a draft free spot, crum­bling, then stor­ing in a glass jar. It also does well chopped fresh and added to water, frozen in ice cube trays to throw in your favorite dishes dur­ing the win­ter. Plac­ing fresh cut pars­ley in a glass like a flo­ral bou­quet will keep it fresh on your counter for a week or more, if it lasts that long.

Gar­den Struc­tures Program

Join the Mas­ter Gar­den­ers on Thurs­day, April 19, for our sec­ond install­ment of monthly com­mu­nity gar­den pro­grams. Explore ways to use and build raised beds and trel­lises from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. then at the YMCA, 1121 S. Houk Road, Delaware. No reser­va­tions needed and they are free of charge.

Susan Liechty is an OSU Exten­sion Mas­ter Gard­ner volunteer.

Posted by Master Gardener on Apr 6 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.