I''ve registered my mime type and set up a custom parser: Mime::Type.register "application/plist+xml", :plist ActionController::Base.param_parsers[Mime::Type.lookup_by_extension ("plist")] = Proc.new { |data| Plist::parse_xml(data) } Now how do I test this? When I do this: @request.env[''RAW_POST_DATA''] = {:foo => bar}.to_plist post :create, :format => ''plist'' My custom parser is not called.