Parsnip
Parsnips
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Apiaceae
Genus:	Pastinaca
Species:	P. sativa
Binomial name
Pastinaca sativa L.[1]

The parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is a root vegetable related to the carrot. Parsnips resemble carrots, but are paler in colour than most carrots, and have a sweeter taste, especially when cooked.^[2] The buttery, slightly spicy, sweet flavor of cooked mature parsnips (often picked after the first frost) is reminiscent of butterscotch, honey, and subtle cardamom. Like carrots, parsnips are native to Eurasia and have been eaten there since ancient times. Zohary and Hopf note that the archeological evidence for the cultivation of the parsnip is "still rather limited", and that Greek and Roman literary sources are a major source about its early use, but warn "there are some difficulties in distinguishing between parsnip and carrot (which, in Roman times, were white or purple) in classical writings since both vegetables seem to have been sometimes called pastinaca yet each vegetable appears to be well under cultivation in Roman times."^[3] As pastinache comuni, the "common" pastinaca figures in the long list of comestibles enjoyed by the Milanese given by Bonvesin de la Riva in his "Marvels of Milan" (1288).^[4]

Uses[link]

While parsnips can be eaten raw, they are more commonly served cooked. They can be boiled, roasted or used in stews, soups and casseroles. In some cases, the parsnip is boiled and the solid portions are removed from the soup or stew, leaving behind a more subtle flavor than the whole root, and starch to thicken the dish. Roasted parsnip is considered an essential part of Christmas dinner in some parts of the English-speaking world and frequently features in the traditional Sunday Roast. Parsnips can also be fried or thinly sliced and made into crisps.

The parsnip originated in the Mediterranean region and originally was the size of a baby carrot when fully grown. When the Roman Empire expanded north through Europe, the Romans brought the parsnip with them. They found that parsnips grew bigger the farther north they went.^{[citation needed]}

Etymology[link]

While folk etymology sometimes assumes the name is a portmanteau of parsley and turnip, it actually comes from Middle English pasnepe, alteration (influenced by nep, turnip) of Old French pasnaie (now panais) from Latin pastinum, a kind of fork, whose ending was changed to -nip by analogy with turnip because it was assumed to be a kind of turnip. It is among the closest relatives of parsley, which can be bred to develop a very parsnip-like root.

Cultivation[link]

Parsnips are considered winter vegetables, since low soil temperatures are necessary to develop their flavor.^[5] They are a favorite with gardeners in areas with short growing seasons. Sandy, loamy soil is preferred; silty, clayey, and rocky soils are unsuitable, as they produce short, forked roots.

Seeds can be planted in early spring, as soon as the ground can be worked. Harvesting can begin in late fall after the first frost, and continue through winter until the ground freezes over. More than almost any other vegetable seed, parsnip seed significantly deteriorates in viability if stored for long, so it is advisable to use fresh seed each year.

In Roman times, parsnips were believed to be an aphrodisiac.^{[citation needed]}

In the United States, this plant was introduced by British colonists as a root vegetable. In the mid-19th century, it was replaced by the potato and consequently escaped from cultivation. New cultivars continued to be developed and disseminated, including the 'Student' cultivar, developed by James Buckman.

Parsnip is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including its namesake, the parsnip swallowtail and also the common swift, garden dart, and ghost moth.

Dangers[link]

While the root of the parsnip is edible, the handling of its shoots and leaves requires protective clothing. Like many other members of the Apiaceae family, the parsnip contains furanocoumarin, a photosensitive chemical that causes a condition known as phytophotodermatitis.^[6] The condition is a type of chemical burn rather than an allergic reaction and should be treated as such. Symptoms include redness, burning, tingling, and blisters (often in the shape of the streak where the plant juices brushed against the body) within 24–48 hours of exposure.^[7]

When gardening parsnips, gloves and long sleeves are advised. If bare skin does come into contact with the upper part of a parsnip plant, the area should be washed immediately and kept out of sunlight. A cool, indoor area is best as a retreat, as sweat can aid in the absorption of the toxin, and sunlight activates its deleterious effects. Should a rash appear, the area may be treated similar to a burn and a physician or pharmacist ought to be consulted.^[8]

Today, most jurisdictions have wild parsnip on their list of noxious weeds or invasive species for this reason.^[9]

Polyacetylenes can be found in Apiaceae vegetables like parsnip where they show cytotoxic activities.^[10]

Nutritional properties[link]

Oven baked parsnips with honey and mustard

The parsnip is richer in vitamins and minerals than its close relative, the carrot. It is particularly rich in potassium with 600 mg per 100 g. The parsnip is also a good source of dietary fiber. A 100-g parsnip contains 75 Calories (230 kJ) of energy.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

1. ^ "Pastinaca sativa information from NPGS/GRIN". www.ars-grin.gov. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?27018. Retrieved 2008-03-02. 
2. ^ Alleman, Gayle Povis; Webb, Denise and Smith, Susan Male. "Parsnips: Natural Weight-Loss Foods". Discovery Health. Publications International. http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/natural-foods/natural-weight-loss-food-parsnips-ga.htm. Retrieved 10 March 2011. 
3. ^ Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf, Domestication of plants in the Old World, third edition (Oxford: University Press, 2000), p. 203
4. ^ Noted by John Dickie, Delizia! The Epic History of Italians and Their Food (New York, 2008), p. 38 (where they are identified as parsnips).
5. ^ http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/parsnip.cfm
6. ^ "Wild Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa)", Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources http://dnr.wi.gov/invasives/fact/parsnip.htm
7. ^ http://archfami.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/9/10/1195
8. ^ http://archfami.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/9/10/1195
9. ^ "Weed watch: Wild parsnip and poison hemlock", Kristine Schaefer http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/2007/7-9/poison.html
10. ^ Polyacetylenes from the Apiaceae Vegetables Carrot, Celery, Fennel, Parsley, and Parsnip and Their Cytotoxic Activities. Christian Zidorn, Karin Jöhrer, Markus Ganzera, Birthe Schubert, Elisabeth Maria Sigmund, Judith Mader, Richard Greil, Ernst P. Ellmerer and Hermann Stuppner, J. Agric. Food Chem., 2005, 53 (7), pages 2518–2523, doi:10.1021/jf048041s

• Dr D.G. Hessayon (2003) The Vegetable & Herb Expert. Expert Books. ISBN 0-903505-46-0
• Dr. Mary Robson (1999) Poison Hemlock : Dangerous to People and Animals". Washington State University Online Directory
• Adam Hart-Davis (2001) What did the Romans do for us?. BBC TV

External links[link]

Look up parsnip in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pastinaca sativa

General[link]

• Pastinaca sativa profile on the USDA plants database
• Pastinaca sativa profile on missouriplants.com
• Pastinaca sativa List of Chemicals (Dr. Duke's)
• "Gardener covered in sores after brushing against vegetable leaves" on the UK Mail Online
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Parsnip". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Recipes[link]

• Recipes with parsnips at the Open Directory Project
• Parsnip Recipes
• Parsnip Recipe Index
• Recipes and cooking instructions
• "Lu's Recipe Extravaganza, Pondering Parsnips?"
• Curried Parsnip soup
• Fried parsnips
• Candied Parsnips

Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He is noted for his contributions to contemporary international cuisine,^[2] and his exceptional culinary skills.

White has been dubbed the first celebrity chef,^[2] the enfant terrible^[3] of the UK restaurant scene and the Godfather of modern cooking. White was, at the time, the youngest chef ever to have been awarded three Michelin stars.^[2] He has trained chefs such as Gordon Ramsay.^[4]

Early life[link]

Marco Pierre White was the third of four boys born to Italian mother Maria-Rosa Gallina, who had come to Britain to learn English, and chef Frank White,^[5] who had struck up a conversation with Maria at the Griffin Hotel in Leeds while he was playing cards.

After marrying in 1954, they lived in a council house in East Leeds, and had sons Graham (1955), Clive (1957) (also a chef) and Marco. Six years later, Maria gave birth to a fourth son, Craig Simon. Two days afterwards, she collapsed and was taken back to St James's University Hospital, Leeds, where she died of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 38.^[6]

After leaving Allerton High School in Leeds without any qualifications, White decided to train as a chef. He began his training in the kitchen at the Hotel St George in Harrogate, North Yorkshire and later at the Box Tree in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Arriving in London as a 16-year-old with "£7.36, a box of books and a bag of clothes",^[2] he began his classical training as a commis under Albert Roux and Michel Roux at Le Gavroche, a period that would lead Albert to describe him as "my little bunny". He continued his training under Pierre Koffman at La Tante Claire (now the site of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay), moving to work in the kitchen of Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons and Nico Ladenis of Chez Nico at Ninety Park Lane. He then branched out on his own, working in the kitchen at the Six Bells public house in the Kings Road with assistant Mario Batali.^[2]

Career[link]

On completion of his training in 1987, White opened Harveys in Wandsworth Common, London (now the site of Chez Bruce), where he won his first Michelin star almost immediately and was awarded his second in 1988, before moving on to become chef-patron of The Restaurant Marco Pierre White in the dining room at the former Hyde Park Hotel, now Mandarin Oriental (where he won the third Michelin star), and then moved to the Oak Room at Le Meridien Piccadilly.

By the age of 33, Marco Pierre White had become the youngest chef to be awarded three Michelin stars^[2] in England.

During these years White had working for him Gordon Ramsay, Eric Chavot (The Capital), Heston Blumenthal (The Fat Duck), Bryn Williams (Odette's), Matt Tebbutt (The Foxhunter), James Detalier-Stocks, Donovan Cooke (Est est est) and in front of house Max (Mark) Palmer, one of the few English Maître d' of a Michelin 3-star, Claude Douart, Philippe Messy (youngest sommelier to gain 3 Michelin stars) and Chris Jones, unusual in being an English sommelier in a 2-star Michelin French restaurant at the age of 21.^{[citation needed]}

Although White worked for 17 years to pursue his ambition, he ultimately found that, in spite of his accomplishments, recognition and fame, his career did not provide him with adequate returns in his personal life. So in 1999, he retired and returned his Michelin stars.^[7]

I was being judged by people who had less knowledge than me, so what was it truly worth? I gave Michelin inspectors too much respect, and I belittled myself. I had three options: I could be a prisoner of my world and continue to work six days a week, I could live a lie and charge high prices and not be behind the stove or I could give my stars back, spend time with my children and re-invent myself.^[8]

During his early career in the kitchen, White regularly ejected patrons from his restaurants if he took offense at their comments.^[7]

When a customer asked if he could have a side order of chips with his lunch, White hand-cut and personally cooked the chips but charged the customer £25 for his time.^[7] A young chef at Harveys, who once complained of heat in the kitchen, had the back of his chef's jacket and trousers cut open by White wielding a sharp paring knife.^[9]

Marco is seen in adverts for Knorr, stock cubes and stock pots, a Unilever brand, in the UK. In answer to criticisms that he'd 'sold himself out as a chef' by acting as a brand ambassador for such products he said, "by working with companies like Knorr it allows me to stand onto a bigger stage and enrich people's lives... Michelin stars, they're my past." ^[10]

Retirement[link]

White announced his retirement from the kitchen in 1999 and cooked his final meal for a paying customer on 23 December at the Oak Room.^[2] After his retirement he became a restaurateur. Together with Jimmy Lahoud he set up White Star Line Ltd,^[11] which currently owns the Belvedere and L'Escargot restaurants in London.^[12]

White also has a stake in The Yew Tree Inn, a 17th-century dining pub near Highclere in North Hampshire. This was the setting for much of "Marco's Great British Feast," screened on ITV in summer 2008. In January 2009 it was reported that White was to charge £5 for a pint of real ale at the venue, making the Yew Tree "one of the most expensive places to drink British real ale in the country".^[13] White was quoted saying "Most pubs undercharge. You're not just paying for beer, you're paying for the place you drink it in and the people who serve it."^[14]

White is also dining consultant to cruise line P&O Cruises. A fine-dining Mediterranean restaurant called The White Room on board the cruise ship MS Ventura was launched in April 2008.

In February 2009 White opened the MPW Steak & Alehouse with James Robertson in the Square Mile in London. As co-owners they also operate the Kings Road Steakhouse & Grill in Chelsea (from 2010). Robertson had worked for White from 1999 - 2003 as a Maitre'D before leaving the group although the pair remained close friends.

In January 2010 he franchised a restaurant called "Marco Pierre White's the Swan Inn" in Aughton, which serves a selection of classic pub foods.

White has published several books, including an influential cookbook White Heat, an autobiography called White Slave (entitled The Devil in the Kitchen in North America and in the paperback version),^[15] and Wild Food from Land and Sea.

White appeared in trailers for the 2004 film Layer Cake.

In March 2010, White signed to promote the Bernard Matthews Farms brand of processed turkey products.^[16] In July 2011, White's range of Bernard Matthews ready meals were dropped amid poor sales, but he remained brand ambassador for Bernard Matthews Farms.^[17]

[edit] Hell's Kitchen

In September 2007, White was the Head Chef in ITV's Hell's Kitchen television series. Asked in April 2007 whether he would be following in the manner of the show's previous incumbent, Gordon Ramsay, White said, "Gordon did it his way; I'll do it my way. We all have different ways of expressing ourselves. I want my emphasis to be on the food and the kitchens rather than the swearing."^[8]

White also commented, "I might be the hardest person they'll have ever met but I've got a heart just as big. It's about picking people up off the floor and inspiring them to want to carry on 'til the end."^[18]

However, his publicity for Hell's Kitchen did not go as smoothly as planned during an interview for Radio Times' "One Final Question" feature. White took offence at one of the questions put by journalist Jenny Eden and abruptly ended the conversation. The next day, Eden received a copy of White's autobiography, The Devil in the Kitchen, with a note of apology inscribed inside the cover.^[19]

At one point during the series, controversy ensued when White said, "I don't think it was a pikey's picnic tonight." The remark prompted criticism from the Commission for Racial Equality. However, the show was defended by an ITV spokesperson, who indicated that warnings about its content were given before transmission, and that White's comment had been challenged by one of the contestants, Lee Ryan.^[20]

The book accompanying the show, Marco Pierre White in Hell's Kitchen, was published on 23 August 2007 by Ebury Press.^[21]

White returned to ITV's screens to present the 4th series of Hell's Kitchen in 2009.

[edit] The Chopping Block

On 18 March 2008, it was announced that White would be the host of an American version of the Australian cooking competition series The Chopping Block.^[22] The series, produced by Granada America, the production company behind the American version of Hell's Kitchen, aired on NBC in March 2009 but was pulled after three episodes due to low ratings. After a three-month hiatus, 'Chopping Block' returned to complete its season.^[23]

[edit] Celebrity Big Brother 2011

On 27 August 2011, White was a houseguest on the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother to set a cooking task. ^[24]

Personal life[link]

White has been married three times. His first wife was Alex McArthur, who was the daughter of a surgeon from Buckinghamshire, and who worked at his local fishmonger. After a year-long romance, they were married at Chelsea Register Office on 8 June 1988; neither family attended the ceremony. White then met 21-year-old model Lisa Butcher at a London nightclub. They were engaged within three weeks. White says today that he was so intoxicated by her looks that he forgot to think about her personality.^[25] Engaged for two months, Butcher sold the wedding in a £20,000 deal to Hello! magazine. The wedding took place at the Brompton Oratory on 15 August 1992, where Albert Roux was best man, and Lisa had forgotten to invite his father and brothers. White says he knew the marriage was a mistake when he saw her £3,000 floor-length, backless Bruce Oldfield dress with cutaway sides. White told a reporter that she looked dressed to go down the catwalk rather than the aisle. Butcher says of their 15-week marriage: "We went to the Scilly Isles for our honeymoon. On the first day Marco turned to me and said, 'I don't love you.' We spent two miserable days when we didn't speak and he went shark fishing. Then I left." In her one interview about the marriage, Butcher has hinted that something unspeakable happened on the honeymoon: "Something very bad did happen but I'm not going to say what it was. It really wasn't a very pleasant experience for me and my family."^[26]

In 1992, White started a relationship with Matilde "Mati" Conejero, the bartender at The Canteen.^[26][27] and went on to have two sons: Luciano (born December 1992), Marco Jr., and a daughter, Mirabelle, born after White retired and the couple had married at the Belvedere on 7 April 2000. At the wedding, Gordon Ramsay turned up with a TV crew having told neither White nor his bride. White and Ramsay have not spoken since.^[5] After White became friends with city financier Robin Saunders, Mati wrongly suspected an affair between the two. White and his wife had a fight, after which White spent 14 hours in the cells of Notting Hill police station in January 2005.^[27] White and Mati began divorce proceedings in 2007 after she confronted two of his waitresses over affairs and his close relationship with singer/actress Martine McCutcheon.^[5]

White has a Japanese assistant called Mr Ishii, who chauffeurs him everywhere, as White does not have a driving licence. White originally met Mr Ishii while he managed the Mirabelle restaurant in Curzon St, Mayfair. The restaurant became available for sale and was quite sought-after, but his relationship with Mr Ishii persuaded the Japanese owners to sell to Marco.^[25] In his leisure time, White can be found freshwater fishing and game hunting.

White is a supporter of the Conservative Party.^[28]

References[link]