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THE CHEF ENCYCLOPEDIA:
Culinary Herb & Spice Reference Guide
Parsley
[also Garden Parsley]
(Petroselinum crispum)
Family: Umbelliferae
Native to the Mediterranean and Sardinia, there are several varieties
of Parsley. Several cultivated varieties exist, including common plain-leaved,
curled-leaved, Hamburg or broad-leaved, and the celery-leaved. There
are at least forty variations of the variety crispum, or curled-leaved
parsley, and the most valuable are those of a compact habit with close,
perfectly curled leaves. The common sort bears close leaves, and is
somewhat hardier than those with curled leaves; however, the curled-leaf
kind are considered superior. "Long white" and "round
sugar" forms are sold by seed growers and are used for flavoring
soups, and stews, the long variety also being cooked and eaten like
parsnips. Neapolitan, or celery-leaved, parsley is grown for its leafstalks
which are blanched and eaten like those of celery. Parsley has many
uses, including of the fresh leaves, finely-chopped as a flavoring to
sauces, soups, stuffings, rissoles, and minces, as well as sprinkled
over vegetables or salads. The leaves are extensively cultivated, not
only for sending to market fresh, but also for the purpose of being
dried and powdered as a culinary flavoring in winter, when only a limited
supply of fresh Parsley is obtainable. In addition to the leaves, the
stems are also dried and powdered, both as a culinary coloring and for
dyeing purposes. To dry Parsley towards the close of the summer for
culinary use, it may be put into the oven on muslin trays when cooking
is finished. The process is repeated several times until thoroughly
dry and crisp. Then the leaves can be rubbed by hand or through a coarse
wire sieve and the powder then stored so that neither air nor light
can reach it to preserve good color. Commercially, there is a special
method of drying which preserves the color.
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