Local purveyor of scrumptiosity Shandaken Bake had Village Voice writer Rebecca Marx swooning yesterday over a tasty tidbit she picked up at the New Amsterdam Market. The baked good in question? An ordinary-looking slice of maple parsnip bread.
If you've never thought of parsnips that way before, prepare to change your mind:
Parsnip's inherent sweetness makes it as natural a fit for baked goods as carrots or sweet potatoes; here, combined with maple syrup, it creates a bread that's unbelievably moist and tender.
The bread's sweetness seems to rely almost entirely on its eponymous ingredients, so while it's certainly on the sweeter end of the spectrum, it's far from cloying -- the maple syrup in particular imparts depth and body. Overall, the flavor is as big and generous as the portion it's served in, and would work well with a morning dose of coffee or dunked in a cup of tea. Or, as we can attest, just scarfed down on its lonesome.
Photo of parsnips by Flickr user Muffet. Published under Creative Commons license.
