parsley

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Glossy green parsley—make it a daily habit! Both curly and Italian flat-leaved parsleys are staples in the kitchen.

WHEN JUDGED against other herbs’ heady flavors, parsley’s seems pallid indeed. Lacking basil’s sweet fragrance, pepper’s fire, mint’s cool finesse, or rosemary’s piney bite, parsley’s taste has been described as grassy, vegetal, or green—more inspiring to cows perhaps than to cooks. Yet parsley’s mild, herbaceous flavor is just what makes it so useful. What other herb could play these diverse roles:

• Background flavoring. A few sprigs added to any soup, stew, or other water-based dish will enrich its flavor and add an elusive herbal bass note. This is parsley’s role in the French bouquet garni.
• Finishing touch. For a clean, finished flavor and colorful contrast, sprinkle noodles, vegetables, or potatoes with flecks of fresh parsley just as you would use black pepper.
• Liaison. Parsley’s mellow taste can link the flavors of two or more other, strongly­ flavored herbs or harmonize the ­flavors of disparate ingredients that might otherwise clash.
• Pseudovegetable. A cup of minced parsley leaves tossed with an equivalent amount of soft grains adds nutrients as well as enticing taste, or call it a green and heap it into salads with lettuces and other greens.
• Flavor extender or diluent. These roles differ in intent, but both combine mild parsley with an assertive herb. For example, when your basil supply is meager, you can extend your pesto with parsley, or use it to dilute and tame a harsher herb such as cilantro.
• Garnish. No herb is prettier than curly-leaved parsley.

Parsley is among only a handful of fresh herbs available year round in virtually any supermarket. If its versatility and convenience don’t persuade you to make parsley a daily habit, consider that it has enough chlorophyll to quench the sulfurous fumes of garlic breath and is packed with health ­benefits.

A potent herb

Parsley’s vitamin C concentration is among the highest of any food—roughly 125 to 300 milligrams per 100 grams, which is a little less than an average bunch. (Nutritionists recommend taking 60 milligrams of vitamin C daily.) It’s also a rich source of iron, calcium, lutein, and beta-carotene (a form of vitamin A). The latter two compounds are antioxidants, which have been linked with slowing cellular aging and the development of tumors. At least two other compounds—chlorophyll and myristicin—may also inhibit the development of some cancers.

Nevertheless, there are caveats to eating large quantities of this herb. Although parsley is high in calcium, its substantial concentration of oxalates—about half that found in spinach—bind calcium, making it inaccessible to the body. People with osteoporosis thus might do well to limit their intake of parsley and other foods high in oxalates. Anyone with kidney disease should probably avoid large quantities, as parsley can irritate the kidneys.

Women of childbearing age should also be aware that another component, apiol, and perhaps myristicin as well, have been shown to stimulate uterine contractions. If you are pregnant or think you might be, it would be prudent to restrict your daily parsley consumption to a leaf or two and pass up cups of parsley-laden tabbouleh (see recipe on page 46).