Flat vs curly parsley.

Thirty yrs ago, flat-leaf parsley was almost unkown in the US. With
the growth of good home cooking and millions of cooking show hours
beamed to home cooks across tv land, does anyone even remember curly
parsley? I do.

Curly parsley was that ugly sprig of whatever you carefully extracted
off your plate of mashed potatoes at a resto or tossed down by your
feet when no one was looking before you dug into your club sandwich at
the five-and-dime lunch counter. It was bitter and prickley and
offended yer soft palate. No one but weirdos and freaks actually ate
it.

Now, we are a nation of foodies! Connoisseurs. Twenty years of food
tv has dictated flat-leaf parsley to be king, and that prickly stuff a
long forgotten second cousin. Now, flat-leaf is so ubiquitous, along
with the near-identical cilantro, we have to read the usually
non-existent produce dept price signs to know what we are really
buying. But, wait! Have you actually tasted a sprig of curly
parsley, lately. Can you even find it in your produce section,
anymore? Does your store even carry it? If you can, taste it.

WOW! Unlike flat-leaf parsley, which has gone the way of agribiz
tomatoes, and has little if any flavor whatsoever, curly leaf parsley
still has that parsley bitterness and flavor parsley is all about.
Next time you're in the store, taste 'em both. Night and day! One is
a distinct flavorful herb while the other is less than 3-day rain
soaked lawn clippings. The good news, they both look exactly the same
after fine mincing or processing in an FP.

nb