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Eat Parsley Root Raw: Here’s How

Eating parsley roots raw is not a problem, because the root vegetable not only tastes good as a soup ingredient. We present you a recipe for raw parsley root salad.

The parsley root is probably best known as a classic soup vegetable. No wonder, because it’s in season in the colder months. From the end of October to February, it provides us with valuable nutrients as a spicy ingredient in stews and soups.

The root vegetable, which is an old subspecies of parsley, contains, among other things, calcium, iron and vitamin C, as well as various essential oils. However, the levels of some of these nutrients, most notably vitamin C, are reduced when you cook the parsley root. You can find out more about the nutrients and effects of parsley root here: Parsley root: preparation, effects and nutrients.

However, you can also eat the aromatic parsley root raw. Raw, it’s as easy to prepare as a carrot. Raw parsley roots are particularly tasty when they are fresh. You can tell by the fact that the root is crisp, firm and smooth. Incidentally, smaller roots are more tender than large specimens and are therefore particularly recommended for raw food dishes.

We also recommend buying parsley roots organic whenever possible. This is how you support agriculture without chemical-synthetic pesticides.

Eating parsley root raw: How to prepare it

If you want to eat parsley root raw, first clean it like this:

Peel the parsley root with a vegetable peeler.
Cut off the ends.
Hold the turnip briefly under running water and dry it.
Cut them into cubes, slices or sticks, depending on their intended use.
You can enjoy raw parsley root raw with dips or add it to salads and smoothies. We present you a recipe for a delicious salad with raw parsley root, carrot, beetroot and apple.

Recipe: Salad with raw parsley root, apple, beetroot and hazelnuts

Ingredients:

500 gparsley root
250 g carrots
250 g beetroot
2 shallots
100 apples
1 handful of fresh parsley
4 tablespoons light balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar, maple syrup, or other sweetener
2 tablespoons of tahin or almond butter
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tbsp hazelnuts, toasted

Directions:

Peel the parsley root, carrot, and beetroot.
Either cut the vegetables into fine strips or grate them.
Peel the shallots and chop them finely. Wash the apple and cut it into small pieces. Wash the parsley and roughly chop it. Mix the vegetables and apple together.
Prepare the dressing: Mix together the vinegar, sugar, and tahini or almond butter. Season the dressing with salt and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the vegetables and mix well. Fold in the toasted hazelnuts. For example, serve some flatbread with a homemade herb dip with the salad.

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Boil Carrots: That’s Why It’s Better Than Eating Them Raw

When you cook carrots, you ensure that your body can better utilize the healthy nutrients. Here you can find out what else you should consider when preparing carrots.

Vitamins and nutrients in carrots – It depends on the cooking

Carrots taste wonderful in a salad or as a snack between meals. But did you know that their valuable ingredients can be utilized even better by your body with the right preparation method?

A study conducted in Sweden in 2012 examined how the availability of the healthy, fat-soluble carotene varies depending on how it is prepared. The conclusion was that both adding fat and cooking the carrots made the valuable ingredients easier for the body to utilize. Above all, however, chopping the vegetables has a positive effect on availability, as reported by ZEIT online.

According to the study, around three percent of the carotene in whole or roughly chopped carrots passes into the gastric juice.
By cooking, the amount can be increased to six percent.
By adding additional oil, the value increased to eight percent.
However, if the carrots were strained or grated before consumption, the value increased many times over: the availability of beta-carotene in boiled and grated carrots increased to a full 27 percent. With additional oil, the value even increased to 45 percent.

Boil the carrots or cook them in a sieve

In order to preserve as many of the healthy ingredients in the carrots as possible during cooking, you should cook them as gently as possible. That’s how it’s done:

Using a vegetable brush and water, scrub the carrots thoroughly to free them from soil.
Cut off the base of the leafy greens and the carrot into small pieces – as you need them for the dish.
Just barely cover the vegetables in the pot with water. The carrots don’t have to be completely immersed in water to cook, as the vitamins are lost in large quantities in the cooking water.
Steam cooking with a sieve insert is even gentler. This allows the carrots to lie in the sieve without coming into contact with the cooking water. Vitamins and nutrients are optimally preserved. Make sure to close the pot and sieve insert with a suitable lid. This will ensure that the steam cooks the carrots properly.
The cooking time in the sieve insert is slightly longer than when cooking in water. Depending on the size of the pieces, carrots require between 10 and 15 minutes. Before the time is up, test your carrots for consistency by puncturing them with a sharp knife. Anything you like is allowed! If you prefer your carrots to be soft, let them cook a little longer. If you like them crispier, shorten the time accordingly.


Season the carrots with as little salt as possible. Salt removes water from the carrots and thus the healthy nutrients.
Tip: Use carrots from organic farming. It has been scientifically proven that organic vegetables and fruit contain more vitamins than conventionally farmed vegetables. Enjoy your meal!

 

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Cooking Fennel: Recipes for Frying, Cooking or Eating Raw

You can prepare fennel in many ways – whether fried, boiled or raw. It is suitable for much more than just a cup of tea. We’ll show you how to use this healthy and versatile vegetable.

To prepare fresh fennel, it is best to buy it during the season from June to October. You can recognize it by its typical shape, which is reminiscent of a human heart with its white bulb and green stems. Ideally, buy fennel from the region and in organic quality. In this way you can be sure that the fennel has not traveled long distances and was grown without chemical-synthetic pesticides.

Tip: The fennel is fresh when it has no brown spots and the green fennel is neither wilted nor dried out.

Fennel is rich in healthy nutrients

You can prepare and eat both the white and the green part as well as the seeds of the fennel. They all taste like anise because of the essential oils. In addition, fennel contains many other healthy ingredients, including magnesium, potassium, iron and vitamin A and vitamin C.

How to prepare the different parts of the fennel:

The white of the fennel can be eaten raw, boiled, roasted or baked in the oven. It goes well with many types of vegetables and fish.
You can use the fennel greens to season fennel dishes.
You can use fennel seeds to flavor baked goods or Mediterranean sauces. You can also use them to make a healthy fennel tea.
To prepare fennel, you must first wash it thoroughly, as there is often sand in the gaps. Then separate the green and cut out the stalk. You can do this by halving or quartering the tuber.

Eat fennel raw

Raw fennel tastes delicious as a fennel salad and can be combined with many types of vegetables. We recommend that you cut it into fine strips due to its strong flavor. An interesting combination is, for example, raw fennel with oranges and olives. For four people you need:

2 juicy oranges
1 small fennel bulb (about 150 g)
2 small white onions
1 tsp chopped rosemary
1 tsp white wine vinegar
4 tablespoons good olive oil
salt and pepper
a handful of olives
How to prepare the salad:

Peel the oranges and remove the white skin.
Cut the oranges into 0.5 cm thick slices and remove the stone. Arrange the slices on a platter. Catch the orange juice.
Clean the fennel bulb and remove the hard outer parts.
Set the fennel greens aside.
Cut the fennel heart into small cubes or fine strips.
Cut the onions into very fine rings.
Whisk together the reserved orange juice with the vinegar and olive oil, add the rosemary.
Season everything with salt and pepper.
Chop the fennel greens and spread them over the orange slices. Top with the onion rings and fennel and drizzle with the dressing.
Put the olives on the salad.

Cooking fennel – what to watch out for?

You can cook a fennel bulb whole or cut in half. Depending on the size, the fennel needs ten to 20 minutes to cook. You get a nice aroma if you add lemon juice to the cooking water. You can then season the fennel as you like, drizzle with olive oil or bake in the oven.

Frying fennel in the pan

The roasted aromas that develop when roasting go very well with the taste of the fennel. Here is an easy fried fennel recipe. For two servings you need:

1 fennel bulb with greens (about 500 g),
2 tbsp olive oil
a bit of margarine
a squeeze of lemon juice
a pinch of sugar
salt and pepper
How to prepare the fennel:

Clean the fennel and cut off the green.
Halve the fennel lengthways, cut out the stalk and cut the fennel into strips.
Heat the olive oil in a pan. Fry the fennel in it over high heat for about four minutes.
Add a pinch of sugar.
Add the margarine and some water and let the fennel simmer over medium heat for a few minutes until cooked.
Season the fennel with lemon juice, salt and pepper and sprinkle with the chopped fennel greens.

Cooking fennel in the oven

Fennel also tastes very good from the oven. Here are some suggestions on how to cook it in the oven:

Mix chopped fennel with other vegetables, place on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season. Then bake the veggies in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes until tender and lightly browned.
Cook the halved fennel bulbs until done and then bake them in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. You can use (vegan) cheese of your choice for the gratin and add (plant-based) cream, spices and other vegetables if you like.

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Eating Raw Asparagus: Pros and Cons

If you want to eat asparagus raw, you should use thin spears. In this article you will find out what else you should pay attention to and the advantages and disadvantages of raw asparagus.

April to June is asparagus time in this country: this is when the healthy vegetables end up on the plates of asparagus lovers, often several times a week. Cooked asparagus is the most popular, but you can also roast or otherwise prepare asparagus.

What many people don’t know: You can also eat asparagus raw. We tell you what is important.

Eating raw asparagus: edible and healthy

Yes, you can also eat asparagus raw. The raw vegetable is neither poisonous nor indigestible. Raw asparagus is said to be particularly healthy:

100g of raw asparagus contains 2.2g of protein, 2g of fiber and virtually no fat. With a water content of 93 percent, asparagus in its raw form can help hydrate the body.
In addition, asparagus provides important minerals: 100 g of raw asparagus contain 24 mg of calcium, 14 mg of magnesium and 202 mg of potassium.
Of particular interest: raw asparagus is also rich in folate (52 µg per 100g), vitamin K (41.6 µg per 100g) and vitamin C (5.6 mg per 100g). In addition, asparagus provides vitamin E (1.13 mg per 100g) and vitamins B1 and B2. Many vitamins are heat-sensitive and would be largely lost during cooking.
A 2011 study confirms this. The scientists found that the longer asparagus is heated, the more nutrients are lost. The vegetables were even blanched – a preparation method that is considered gentle.
Asparagus has been shown to have a diuretic effect. This effect is said to be stronger with raw asparagus than in its cooked form – but we could not find any scientific evidence for this.
Note: It is of course not the case that cooked asparagus no longer contains any beneficial nutrients, as not all nutrients are heat-sensitive. Especially when it comes to vitamin C, vitamin B1 and vitamin B9, asparagus performs better in its raw form.

On the other hand, asparagus also contains ferulic acid, which according to the BBC, our body can only access well after heating. Ferulic acid has an antioxidant effect and can thus protect against oxidative stress. From a health point of view, it is therefore worth not always eating asparagus raw and instead varying the preparation methods.

Raw asparagus: taste and purchase recommendation

Raw asparagus does not differ from the cooked variant in terms of nutrients, but also in terms of taste: The typical asparagus aroma, which lovers appreciate so much, only develops under the influence of heat and is therefore missing in the raw preparation. Fresh asparagus is particularly juicy when raw and, in addition to the slightly nutty aroma, is also reminiscent of pea pods. Raw asparagus also tastes slightly sweet, which makes it particularly appetizing.

If you want to eat asparagus raw, you should prefer thin spears. The thicker the asparagus, the tart and bitter it tastes. In addition, asparagus tastes better the fresher it is. This is why regional asparagus is always ahead of imported goods.

You can eat both green and white asparagus raw. From an ecological point of view, however, green asparagus is more advisable, since white asparagus must be protected from the sunlight with plastic films when growing.

In general, we therefore recommend that you buy green asparagus regionally and seasonally. Organic quality is also important, as conventional asparagus is often contaminated with pesticides.

Prepare asparagus raw – it’s that easy

You always have to peel white asparagus. But don’t just throw away the peel: you can use it to prepare a delicious asparagus peel soup. If, on the other hand, you decide to use green asparagus, you should definitely leave the peel on. Most of the vitamins are just under the skin.

You can easily prepare raw asparagus:

Wash the asparagus.
If the lower end is purple-whitish and hard, you should definitely peel this part and cut off the mostly dried end.
If the asparagus is green all the way through, you only need to cut off the lower end a finger’s width. Alternatively, you can also break the asparagus – it usually breaks directly above the end that is too tight.
If the asparagus spears are very thick and the skin feels hard, peel only the bottom third of the asparagus.
You can then use the asparagus in any recipe.

You can eat the asparagus prepared in this way raw, for example, as follows:

Marinated asparagus: Cut the raw asparagus into fine strips and leave them in a marinade for about 20 minutes. In a separate article, we present five recipes for delicious marinades. You can serve the asparagus marinated in this way with fresh lettuce and, if necessary, some cheese.
Asparagus sticks with dip: You can use whole or halved asparagus stalks for dipping. This goes well with homemade hummus or pesto, for example. Also, try our vegan dips.
Mushroom and asparagus salad: cut into fine strips, you can use raw asparagus with fried mushrooms, tomatoes, and a delicious dressing made from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, salt and pepper to create a delicious salad. You can find the whole recipe in our How to Prepare Green Asparagus article – just skip the step of frying the asparagus.
Tomato and asparagus salad with mozzarella: A raw vegetable salad made from asparagus, cherry tomatoes, spring onions and mozzarella cheese is also delicious. Serve with vinaigrette dressing.
Asparagus and strawberry salad: In this country, asparagus and strawberries are in season at the same time. That’s why you can use these two ingredients to prepare a delicious, special kind of salad. Just follow our asparagus recipe and skip the step of frying the asparagus.
Smoothie with asparagus: Those who like to experiment with asparagus can also prepare a smoothie with asparagus. However, you should start slowly at first, as the asparagus taste can quickly become too intense if the quantities are too large.
Tip: Try eating raw ginger – it is particularly rich in vitamins and nutrients. The same applies to many other foods: You can also eat zucchini raw, for example.

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