Asparagus
{Crunchy, verdant and delicious}
A member of the lily family, asparagus has a long history, dating back to the 1st century AD when it is recorded that the early Romans cultivated it. Almost 1500 years later, it was known in France and England when terms such as “sperage,” “sparagus,” “sparrow grass” and just plain “grass.” But it took until the mid 1800’s for the spring vegetable to take hold in North America and only then was consistently known by its current-day name. The term “grass” is still used by growers and packers to the present day.
High in folic acid and a good source of potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, vitamins A and C, and thiamin, asparagus cook quickly and are best either simply blanched in salted boiling water or slicked with flavorful olive or nut based oil and then briefly roasted in a hot oven.
The young shoot of an almost leafless plant, asparagus takes a couple years to become productive, and then from the third year on and for a couple more years, the plants yield crops. Labor intensive in their cultivation, the white varieties which are prized in Europe, particularly Belgium, Germany and most of France, must be grown with mounds of soil piled up around the stalks, shielding them from sunlight which would otherwise turn the stalks green due to chlorophyll.
