Dried parsley

Parsley goes with a wide range of dishes. As dried parsley, it can be used to season or garnish sauces, soups, and all types of hearty dishes. If you soak dried parsley for a few minutes in cold water, more flavor is released.

General information:

From Wikipedia: “Parsley or garden parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region (southern Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Malta, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia), naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as a herb, a spice, and a vegetable. ...

Parsley is widely used in European, Middle Eastern, and American cooking. Curly leaf parsley is often used as a garnish. In central Europe, eastern Europe and southern Europe, as well as in western Asia, many dishes are served with fresh green chopped parsley sprinkled on top. Root parsley is very common in central, eastern and southern European cuisines, where it is used as a snack or a vegetable in many soups, stews, and casseroles.”

Nutritional information:

“Parsley is a source of flavonoid and antioxidants, especially luteolin, apigenin, folic acid, vitamin K, vitamin C, and vitamin A. Half a tablespoon (a gram) of dried parsley contains about 6.0 µg of lycopene and 10.7 µg of alpha carotene as well as 82.9 µg of lutein+zeaxanthin and 80.7 µg of beta carotene.

Excessive consumption of parsley should be avoided by pregnant women. It is safe in normal food quantities, but large amounts may have uterotonic effects.”

Types of garlic:

“The two main groups of parsley used as herbs are curly leaf (P. crispum crispum group; syn. P. crispum var. crispum) and Italian, or flat leaf (P. crispum neapolitanum group; syn. P. crispum var. neapolitanum); of these, the neapolitanum group more closely resembles the natural wild species. Flat-leaved parsley is preferred by some gardeners as it is easier to cultivate, being more tolerant of both rain and sunshine, and is said to have a stronger flavor (though this is disputed), while curly leaf parsley is preferred by others because of its more decorative appearance in garnishing. A third type, sometimes grown in southern Italy, has thick leaf stems resembling celery.

“Another type of parsley is grown as a root vegetable, the Hamburg root parsley (P. crispum radicosum group, syn. P. crispum var. tuberosum). This type of parsley produces much thicker roots than types cultivated for their leaves. Although seldom used in Britain and the United States, root parsley is common in central and eastern European cuisine, where it is used in soups and stews, or simply eaten raw, as a snack (similar to carrots).

Although root parsley looks similar to the parsnip, which is among its closest relatives in the family Apiaceae, its taste is quite different.”

Culinary uses:

Parsley is a spice that is a common ingredient in sauces, soups, and pesto. Dried parsley tastes great on potatoes or in fresh salads.

Nutrient tables

The complete nutritional information, coverage of the daily requirement and comparison values with other ingredients can be found in the following nutrient tables.

Author: Michael Weber | 11 May 2017