It was Hamburg Parsley (Petroselinum crispum var. Tuberosum), also called Turnip-rooted Parsley. This variety is grown especially for its roots. To me, it tastes like a cross between a carrot and a parsnip, heavily laced with parsley. Some people liken it to celery in flavour.

You can always try to plant these roots, but I doubt that they'll grow. Parsley really hates to be transplanted. However, in horticulture, always expect the unexpected!

I suggest you just eat them, and get some seeds to start growing some. They are delicious roasted whole. Plenty of recipes in WWW-land.

Don't eat them if you're pregnant, will you?

Most of the big veggie seed retailers carry parsley root seed. I grew it once. Same culture to grow as regular parsley. Tops tasted like regular parsley and roots tasted as Daisy said. I would suggest sowing some seed if you want to give it a try in the garden.

FataMorgana

Thanks for the input. I always have a hard time starting parsley from seed and thought this may be a short cut. For $1.50, I'll try to plant it and see what happens. There are 12 cups of parsley germinating in the basement, hopefully...

yea it is a lot like cilantro

In what sense?