How to clean and trim parsnips? I have some parsnips, and recipe for them which said to:


  Wash and scrape parsnips, and cut into 2 inch strips.  Place into 2 inches of boiling water, and cook for 10 minutes, covered.  Drain, add butter, salt and pepper as desired.


By "scrape", does the author want me to just clean of most of the dirt / color with a brush, or should I just peel the parsnips?  Also, should I retain the core of the parsnip?
My grandmother scraped both her parsnips and her carrots. Basically you hold your knife perpendicular to the vegetable and drag it down the length. It's the same action as using a peeler. In fact, I usually just peel mine with a peeler. But scraping leaves a tiny bit more of the vegetable.