I met parsley a while ago. When I first met parsley it was always dried and chopped and in a bottle I bought at the store. Actually, I didn't like it very much but - would you believe it !! - it was exotic and a bit gourmet. So I kept it around and used it in assorted recipes. And really, most recipes in those days called for dried parsley.
But of course we all discovered fresh some time ago. NOT the same thing as dried. When we first moved here I was charmed by the bunches of fresh parsley - unpackaged - at the grocery and on the market. It is available fresh year round, and it is a hearty plant. I have it even now in our planters out back, but it doesn't produce enough for our weekly needs. Will be in summer, though.
I prefer the flat-leaf parsley. The flavor is a bit more intense. We use it in salad, as a garnish, to flavor butter (along with chives and/or oregano and/or tarragon and/or lemon balm and/or chervil and/or whatever else is green and around), to make tabouleh (YUM!) and as a bouquet in the kitchen window or on the table.
But of course we all discovered fresh some time ago. NOT the same thing as dried. When we first moved here I was charmed by the bunches of fresh parsley - unpackaged - at the grocery and on the market. It is available fresh year round, and it is a hearty plant. I have it even now in our planters out back, but it doesn't produce enough for our weekly needs. Will be in summer, though.
I prefer the flat-leaf parsley. The flavor is a bit more intense. We use it in salad, as a garnish, to flavor butter (along with chives and/or oregano and/or tarragon and/or lemon balm and/or chervil and/or whatever else is green and around), to make tabouleh (YUM!) and as a bouquet in the kitchen window or on the table.
What does any of this have to do with frugal? Well you should ask. We were at the market Saturday and I needed parsley and I went to a stand that is rather new there and is - shall we say - under-customered. Newbies have to forge a place for themselves and this guy seems to be having a hard time. So I decided to be nice and bought some of his parsley (even though it was a bit more than others on the market). Here's what I noticed when we unpacked our goodies at home:
See the rubber band? That's normal - a bunch of parsley is held together that way. But this guy - he TIED a rubber band together. He took a rubber band and cut it in half and tied the half into one and used it to bind the bunch.
I wouldn't have thought that really but we bought two bunches and BOTH were done this way - WITH DIFFERENT COLOR RUBBER BANDS.
What a way to save money. Cut your rubber bands in half.
And I thought I was frugal.
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