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What Do You Mean, Parsley Has a Taste?
Apr. 26th, 2022 09:25 amA few years into our marriage, Jethrien says to me, “Hey, do you always have to put parsley into things? I don’t really like the taste.”
I reply, “Parsley doesn’t have a taste, what are you talking about?”
This conversation starts off a survey of everyone we know to see if they think parsley has a taste. And, of course, all of them agree that it does…except my sister. It turns out, we both have some weird genetic quirk that we can’t taste parsley, and the fact that other people could taste it never occurred to me.
I was introduced to parsley as a thing when I was a kid and I was at a diner where they put a big sprig of parsley on the plate. I asked, “What’s this?” and my parents said, “It’s a garnish, you don’t have to eat it.” So, of course, I tried eating it. It tasted like nothing to me, so I assumed that it was used as a garnish because it was bright green and pretty, was technically edible, and tasted like nothing.
So for the first decade I was cooking for myself, I put parsley into every recipe that called for it on the assumption that it was there to look pretty! Parsley went into soups because it added those bright green spots that don’t blanche out like most greens. I loved (I still love) tabbouleh salad that’s mostly parsley because it tastes like lemon and olive oil. I figured that people used parsley as a filler green because it’s sturdy and they didn’t have lettuce, despite it being tasteless (and I had no idea why nobody else ever ate the tabbouleh!). Nowadays I’ve generally stopped putting parsley in things at all, because other people don’t like it and it’s just color to me anyway.
Recently, I had gotten a big bundle of parsley in a package of soup greens, and had my son try it. He said it didn’t taste like anything, indicating that he’s inherited my quirk. At least he’ll know!
I reply, “Parsley doesn’t have a taste, what are you talking about?”
This conversation starts off a survey of everyone we know to see if they think parsley has a taste. And, of course, all of them agree that it does…except my sister. It turns out, we both have some weird genetic quirk that we can’t taste parsley, and the fact that other people could taste it never occurred to me.
I was introduced to parsley as a thing when I was a kid and I was at a diner where they put a big sprig of parsley on the plate. I asked, “What’s this?” and my parents said, “It’s a garnish, you don’t have to eat it.” So, of course, I tried eating it. It tasted like nothing to me, so I assumed that it was used as a garnish because it was bright green and pretty, was technically edible, and tasted like nothing.
So for the first decade I was cooking for myself, I put parsley into every recipe that called for it on the assumption that it was there to look pretty! Parsley went into soups because it added those bright green spots that don’t blanche out like most greens. I loved (I still love) tabbouleh salad that’s mostly parsley because it tastes like lemon and olive oil. I figured that people used parsley as a filler green because it’s sturdy and they didn’t have lettuce, despite it being tasteless (and I had no idea why nobody else ever ate the tabbouleh!). Nowadays I’ve generally stopped putting parsley in things at all, because other people don’t like it and it’s just color to me anyway.
Recently, I had gotten a big bundle of parsley in a package of soup greens, and had my son try it. He said it didn’t taste like anything, indicating that he’s inherited my quirk. At least he’ll know!
