Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 329 kcal | 93 kcal |
| Protein | 5.3 g | 1.5 g |
| Fat | 1.3 g | 0.4 g |
| saturated | 0.2 g | 0.1 g |
| Carbohydrate | 57.5 g | 16.3 g |
| sugars | 21.1 g | 6 g |
| Fibre | 21.5 g | 6.1 g |
| Sodium | 44 mg | 12 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 1.7 kg parsnips
Instructions
- Pick parsnips that are firm and no thicker than a wrist. A big old parsnip has a woody core running down the length of it that neither softens nor crisps.
- Scrub them rather than peel them, and only cut out damaged spots. The skin is thin, it carries a lot of the flavour, and peeling a vegetable that is about to shrink by four fifths leaves you with very little.
- Halve any thick ones lengthways and cut the core out with the tip of a knife. It is paler and harder than the flesh around it and easy to see once the parsnip is open.
- Slice as thin as your mandolin will go. Parsnip is denser and sweeter than carrot, and a thick slice browns at the rim before the middle has dried.
- Spread the slices without overlapping and dry at 46 °C for 9 hours. The setting is deliberately low: parsnip sugar caramelises easily, and a hot run leaves you with something bitter at the edges.
- They are ready when a cooled slice snaps in half and shows no flexible band through the middle. Take one off the tray and wait a minute before testing — the sugar keeps them bendy while they are hot.
- Cool them in a single layer and condition them in a jar for a week, shaking it daily. Parsnips vary hugely in water content and it is quite normal for a few slices in a batch to lag behind the rest.
- Once the glass stays dry, store them somewhere dark for a year. They go into a soup or a stew straight from the jar, and if you are eating them as crisps they are worth salting while still warm.
