Black Dirt Region Parsnips

Parsnips look and cook like white carrots, but their texture is a little softer and more buttery. They have an earthy flavor that goes with roasts and game. A beef stew without parsnips is almost as unthinkable as a beef stew without beef. Chicken soup and turkey stock pick up round sweet flavor from parsnips. The Black Dirt Region, spanning southern Orange County, New York and northern Sussex County, New Jersey, is home to family-owned farms situated on thousands of acres of deep, richly organic soil — the result of ancient glaciers melting, river overflow and plant decay. The lush valley is best known for its production of the prized "black-dirt onion," as well as other root vegetables.