 The parsnip was much esteemed, and the Emperor Tiberius accepted part of the tribute payable to Rome by Germany in the form of parsnips.In Europe, the vegetable was used as a source of sugar before cane and beet sugars were available.As "pastinache comuni", the "common" "pastinaca" figures in the long list of comestibles enjoyed by the Milanese given by Bonvesin da la Riva in his "Marvels of Milan" (1288).