Parsnips

Root vegetables are all the rage! The chefs at all the hippest restaurants are cooking with roots, because they embody the flavors of earth, sun, and rain. Gardeners know that carrots, beets, and other roots are easy to grow in well-worked, organic soil. Give parsnips a spot in your garden this spring, and you'll enjoy homegrown taste throughout next winter. Parsnips taste sweeter after frost and don't suffer if you leave them in the ground until you're ready to eat them. Now, that's my idea of cool.
Best Varieties

'Andover'. Sweet, slender roots with rounded crowns.

Superfood Spotlight

Don't let its pale color fool you: A serving of this low-calorie veggie is packed with 7 g of fiber (40% more than its brighter-colored cousin, the carrot), 30 mcg of bone-building vitamin K, and 30% of the immune-boosting vitamin C you need daily.

Buy Smooth, off-white, and firm varieties that are small to medium in size. Parsnip ripens after the first frost, so winter months are prime for buying. Store in the fridge.

We have a friend who is a big, big fan of some strange root vegetables that most of us couldn't identify if our lives depended on it. To prove that point, take this simple test: Close your eyes and describe a parsnip. What color crayon would you pick up if you had to draw one?