Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Parsley

I love cooking and sometimes I just grab spices with no real direction for flavor.  If you were like me growing up your spice rack is full of dried spices.  The only spice I only bought fresh was cilantro and started my small herb garden.  The only time I touched fresh parsley was when I was reading the tag to see if it was cilantro because I have made the mistake of grabbing Italian parsley thinking its cilantro, getting home to use it only to find out I grabbed the wrong thing.  I know I cannot possibly be the only one who has done this.  It wasn’t until I saw fresh parsley being used on an Food Network episode that I changed my mind.
I will admit it is extremely hard to keep herbs fresh and it is a lot easier to just use dried spices but the flavor difference is huge.  I was making some Italian meatballs and decided to use fresh parsley and this was the beginning of a new love affair.
Aside from the flavor parsley provides, it actually has health benefits.  Parsley can provide essential vitamins and minerals such as Vitamins A, C, E and K, Vitamin B6 and B12, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium and Zinc to name a few….I mean seriously who knew you could get all this from a garnish? Lol.
Next time you are cooking, resist the urge to grab the dried spice and go for the fresh herb.  I guarantee you won’t regret it.