Parsnip Snips and Chips

I had a few parsnips in the pantry... and most went into a pot roast with some dried porcini mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, shallots and onions. Then I had a brainstorm with the 2 that were left... parsnip chips! I have to say I was amazed at how good they are!!!

For the first trial batch, I peeled the parsnips, and then sliced slivers off with the potato peeler, down as close to the core as I could get. For the second trial batch, I peeled, then quartered, the parsnips... and removed the pithy core. Then I sliced them as thin as I could with my chef's knife, around 1/8 inch thick.

I heated home-rendered tallow in a cast iron skillet, and dropped in a few strips. Cooked until lightly browned, removed, drained... and lightly salted.  The potato-peeler slices cooked before I could get my camera ready and focused, but the thicker slices took a couple of minutes, so I at least have one photo!

The thicker sliced chips are absolutely wonderful (and easier to prepare), with just a hint of the natural sweetness of parsnips. The fried slivers taste just like most chips... okay (mainly bland and salty) but not outstanding! Next time, I'll fry up a whole bagful of parsnips. YUM!!

Note: The thicker chips are best eaten (just like french fries) while they are still warm!

The Nutritional Data site I use doesn't have a listing for fried parsnips, but here's the skinny on 100 grams of raw parsnips:

glycemic load 5; inflamation, mildly inflammatory -12

high in Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate (B9, used in our DNA), Vitamin E, magnesium, potassium and manganese

However, the Omega 3:6 ratio isn't so good... but not as bad as many products:

Total Omega-3 fatty acids 3 mg

Total Omega-6 fatty acids 41

Same amount of raw potato, for comparison:

glycemic load 8; inflamation, mildly inflammatory -46

High in Vitamin C, moderate B6 and potassium

However, the Omega 3:6 ratio is better than parsnips:

Total Omega-3 fatty acids 10 mg

Total Omega-6 fatty acids 32

For myself, I'll take the trade-off of more vitamins, less glycemic load and less inflamation over the Omega 3:6 ratio since my diet is higher than most in Omega 3 due to all the grass-fed meats, butter and eggs I eat.