Petroselinum crispum, the most popular herb in European cookery. In the Middle East it is added so abundantly to various dishes that it takes on the role of a vegetable. Further east, it loses its pre-eminent place to the related plant coriander (sometimes called Chinese or Japanese parsley, and similar in appearance although not flavour).
Parsley is an umbelliferous plant native to the E. Mediterranean area (Linnaeus believed that its origin was in Sardinia) and related to celery, with which it has occasionally formed hybrids. The ancient Greeks used the name selinon for both parsley and celery, and only occasionally bothered to distinguish parsley as petroselinon, meaning ‘rock’ celery or parsley. Later the Romans used the word apium in a similarly ambiguous way. Thus it is difficult to tell which is meant. However, the Greek writer Theophrastus, writing before 300 bc, describes curly-leafed and flat-leafed varieties of parsley similar to the two main modern types.
According to Pliny the Elder (1st century ad), the Romans held parsley fronds in particular esteem among seasonings. (Roman recipes often called for parsley seeds as well as the leaves, but the seeds are not now used.)
Parsley is more difficult to grow than other culinary herbs, because the seeds take so long to germinate—70 to 90 days. In medieval times there were superstitious beliefs about the seeds having to pay a series of visits to the devil before germination, and so forth. Eleanor Sinclair Rohde (1936) gives an especially interesting collection of quaint beliefs about parsley. Many of these were taken from a correspondence in The Times, in which connections between parsley and women, and with Good Friday, recur often.
The numerous cultivars of parsley fall into two main categories: curly (or curly-leaf), and flat leafed. The former is preferred in English-speaking countries, partly because it is often used as a garnish rather than a flavouring, and has a more decorative appearance than the flat-leafed type. Champion Moss Curled and Forest Green are two favourite cultivars in this group.
If sprigs of curly-leafed parsley are quickly deep fried they emerge with their shape intact and a very pleasing dark green colour.
Flat-leafed parsley is dominant on the mainland of Europe, and universal in the Middle East. It is chopped and added to dishes as a flavouring, so there is no need for it to have a decorative appearance. The best flavour resides in the stems, and some recipes call for these alone to be used. In Middle Eastern salads such as tabbouleh (whose other main ingredient is burghul), chopped parsley is added by the cupful. Flat-leafed parsley looks like coriander but can easily be distinguished by smell.
Neapolitan parsley, much used in S. Italy, is in fact a group of cultivars (Gigante d'Italia, Celery-leafed, etc.) which are generally larger (almost 1 m/3′ in height) than other parsley plants, with proportionately bigger leaves and thicker stems; indeed these plants can be grown and eaten like celery. The strong flavour of the leaves is prized by Italians.
Plain-leafed parsley constitutes the other group of flat-leafed parsleys, in which cultivars such as French and Italian Dark Green are found.
Many people think the flavour of curly-leaf parsley is always inferior to that of flat-leafed parsley. Certainly it is different; but variations in soil and climate affect the flavour of both kinds.
Parsley sauce has for long been a favourite in Britain. Rohde records that King Henry VIII liked it in the still customary form of a simple white sauce flavoured with parsley. In French cuisine a persillade (a mixture of parsley and garlic) is often used to flavour dishes.
Hamburg parsley, also called turnip-rooted parsley, originated in Germany in the 16th century. It is still popular in NW Europe. Although there was a vogue for it in Britain in the 18th century, it is now scarcely known there or in the USA, where it also penetrated briefly. It has an enlarged root resembling a small parsnip or a large, whitish carrot (although varieties with a round turnip shape are known). It is always eaten cooked, and is often used in soups. The flavour is between that of parsley and of celeriac (see celery).
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
