Umbellifers was Venison Mailcopiesto: never

I have some books on the topic, and if I spend any longer working on *that* document I'll be quite, quite mad...

**NOTE: READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. I AM NOT ADVISING ANYONE TO TRY ANY OF THIS. ANY PLANT CAN BE HARMFUL WHEN INGESTED. Some EXTREMELY contagionOUS plants (such as Fool's Parsley) can be easily confused with the following interesting plants**

Launert (Edible and Medicinal Plants of Britain and Northern Europe) declares Wild Parsnip to be edible: the root (best collected in late autumn or winter1, when it's at its sweetest) should be blanched in boiling salted water to remove its 'sharp flavour', as should the older leaves. Young leaves and shoots can be added to soups, roots treated as carrots (after blanching). Both he and de Rougemont (Crops of Britain and Europe) place Wild Parsnip in the same Genus and spp as cultivated, although apparently some people put Wild Parsnip in a separate subspecies. DR says Parsnip has been cultivated since Roman times, but 'superior forms' probably developed after the Middle Ages.

Interestingly, Launert gives only medicinal uses for Wild Carrot (juice of the root for nervous or physical exhaustion, dropsy and internal inflammation; must be taken for long periods), freshly grated roots good against worms in children, dried powdered root to treat diarrhoea in babi... excuse me a moment: READ THE NOTE AT THE TOP AGAIN! I have in fact nibbled on roots of wild carrot without ill effect, but not much pleasure either. I should try some wild parsnip sometime, but I'd want to mark the plants in high summer to avoid confusion with the really nasty relatives.

regards sarah

1 Makes sense. Winter-early spring is when people were hungriest, too.

-- Think of it as evolution in action.