Product Description
The Parsley Root is often mistaken for a parsnip, but it is a root vegetable closer in size, texture, and shape to a carrot. However, the parsley root is used like parsnip – in stews, soups, sauces, and roasted. It has a mild parsley flavor, but when roasted, it sweetens slightly. The plant produces leaves that can be harvested like other parsleys. Parsley is an excellent companion plant. It attracts many beneficial pollinators and insects. When planted near tomato plants, it is known to attract the wasp that preys on tomato hornworms. With Rooted Parsley, you get the best of both uses - as a delicious ingredient for cooking in the kitchen and a natural pest deterrent in the garden. Win-win! These heirloom Hamburg Rooted Parsley seeds are part of The Seeds That Built America collection by Harvesting History and are made in the USA!
Planting and Care
Plant your Hamburg Rooted Parsley in full sun in the spring after the danger of frost has passed. Hamburg-rooted Parsley can be sown as soon as the ground can be worked. Parsley should always be direct-seeded because it does not transplant well. Soil should be deeply spaded before planting. Sow seeds 1 inch deep in rows 8-10 inches apart. When seedlings are 2 inches high, thin, leaving 6-8 inches between plants.
Seeds germinate in 14-21 days, and plants meet maturity in 75 days, with the parsley growing to a height of 8-12 inches. This biennial plant is hardy in zones 3-9.
Inspiration
Hamburg Rooted Parsley is little known in the United States, but it has been known and used in Europe since the 16th century, where it was first used in Germany. Today, parsley is the most popular herb in the world. Native to the Mediterranean, it is now cultivated on every continent and is an ingredient in more cuisines than any other vegetable or herb on the planet. Indeed, it may be the oldest cultivated vegetable or herb by humankind.
As a culinary herb, it has been used for more than 2,000 years, but as a medicinal herb, for much longer. It was introduced into the British Isles in the 1500s and brought to America with the earliest colonists. It is described by McMahon in the very first book on American horticulture, The American Gardener's Calendar (1806).
Eighteenth-century Williamsburg was the home of many ardent gardeners and plant collectors who often exchanged seeds with fellow enthusiasts in Great Britain. Gardeners obtained their seeds from store merchants or from traveling seedsmen. Today, the Colonial Williamsburg seed program continues the tradition by offering many varieties grown in the 18th century.
