Falafel they are not cooked prior to use (cooking the chickpeas will cause the falafel to fall apart, requiring adding some flour to use as a binder). Instead they are soaked (sometimes with baking soda) overnight, then ground together with various ingredients such as parsley, scallions, and garlic. Spices such as cumin and coriander are often added to the beans for added flavor. The dried fava beans are soaked in water and then stone ground with leek, parsley, green coriander, cumin and dry coriander. The mixture is shaped into balls or patties. This can be done by hand or with a
Parsley stems resembling celery. Another type of parsley is grown as a root vegetable, the Hamburg root parsley ("P. crispum radicosum" group, syn. "P. crispum" var. "tuberosum"). This type of parsley produces much thicker roots than types cultivated for their leaves. Although seldom used in Britain and the United States, root parsley is common in central and eastern European cuisine, where it is used in soups and stews, or simply eaten raw, as a snack (similar to carrots). Although root parsley looks similar to the parsnip, which is among its closest relatives in the family Apiaceae, its taste is quite different.