It's winter, here are the seasonal vegetables you can eat

Raw or cooked, certain seasonal winter vegetables are preferred and can also bring something new to the plate, or sometimes even bring back childhood memories.

Parsnip

The parsnip is a rustic biennial herbaceous plant, coming from Europe and Asia which was regularly consumed before being dethroned by the potato. Resembling a carrot, long and thinning towards the base – both vegetables belong to the Apiaceae family – the parsnip also has serrated dark green leaves.

However, this forgotten root vegetable has been making a comeback in dishes for several years. It is appreciated for its creamy white root whose slightly sweet taste is similar to that of hazelnut and celeriac.

It can be eaten grated, in chips, gratinated or as a soup or for an offbeat dessert, by cooking a “parsnip cake”. Parsnip is a vegetable containing magnesium, calcium, potassium and vitamin C.

Sweet potato

Native to South America, the sweet potato is an annual root vegetable with an elongated or rounded shape, which belongs to the convolvulaceae category.

It is harvested for its cooked tubers, the color of which varies between white, orange and purple depending on the variety. The taste of the creamy and sweet flesh is reminiscent of chestnuts.

It can be cooked in fries, in soup, in mousse or to replace butter in the preparation of certain cakes. As for its leaves, they can be eaten in the same way as spinach. Sweet potatoes are rich in sodium, magnesium, calcium and carbohydrates.

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Beetroot

Beetroot is a biennial root vegetable from the Chenopodiaceae family.

There are three varieties:

• sugar beet,
• fodder beet (to feed animals)
• vegetable beets

The latter, rounded in shape, dark pink in color tending towards purple, yellow or chioggia (with pink and white circles), is used for dishes, in salads, pan-fried, in terrines for its fine and sweet flavor, slightly earthy.

Low in calories, it is rich in antioxidants and vitamins A, B and K. When it is raw, it is preferable to choose it with a peel that is not too dry and with leaves.

If it is cooked, check that its skin is evenly smooth, with no visible cracks or blemishes. According to Cultures Sucre, France produced more than 4 million tonnes of beet sugar in 2023-2024, a production that keeps it in first place in Europe.

Fennel

Just like parsnips, fennel is part of the Apiaceae family. This annual plant native to the Mediterranean basin is composed of a fleshy, rounded white bulb with an anise flavor, from which several green stems extend with plumes of tender green leaves.

Florence fennel is the most frequently consumed variety. Steamed, as an accompaniment to fish or braised, fennel flavors dishes.

Its stems and plumes can take on the role of aromatic herbs. It is low in calories (31g/per 100 grams), rich in potassium, sodium, magnesium and vitamin C.

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Kale

Originally from the Mediterranean, kale or curly cabbage or feather cabbage belongs to the brassica family. This rustic old vegetable is composed of a central stem with long, curly, dark green leaves. These are sweet when ripe but bitter if harvested too early.

These can be cooked in soup, smoothie, salad. Low in calories (35 kcal per 100 g) and antioxidant, it is best consumed raw or after rapid cooking to benefit from its nutritional qualities (fiber, vitamins C and K, potassium and calcium).