ASPARAGUS OFFICINALIS

Asparagus is a hardy plant that grows throughout the United States wherever the soil is well-drained. It prefers a loamy, sandy soil but will grow in almost any type except very alkaline desert soil. Because it needs regular water, it naturalizes only east of the Rockies, but needs irrigation in the desert Southwest and California. It’s a perennial garden crop and will produce spears for many years if fed regularly with well-made compost.

The Organic Factor

You should be able to find locally grown, organic asparagus in both supermarkets and farmers’ markets throughout asparagus season, from spring through Sep-tember. Because the standard varieties of asparagus are susceptible to asparagus beetles, red spider mites, rust, and fusarium wilt, conventional farms may spray both pesticides and fungicides. Certified organic asparagus will have none of that and will not need it if the variety is Jersey Knight, which is more disease resistant than the standard Washington State strains.

NUTRITION

Green asparagus is a prime source of folic acid. Just 1⁄2 cup provides one-third of the recommended daily amount of this nutrient. The ghostly white blanched asparagus favored in Europe is not nearly as fully flavored nor as rich in trace elements like zinc, manganese, iron, and calcium as green or purple types.

Some people have a gene that imparts an un-pleasant odor to their urine if they eat asparagus, and some are susceptible to dermatitis if they eat the vegetable raw, still others find the plants’ little red berries that form on the ferny fronds of the mature plant poisonous. My advice is to leave the berries alone, whether you are susceptible or not.

TYPES

In addition to green and purple asparagus, there is also white asparagus. I know gourmets just love white asparagus, but I find it lacks flavor.

SEASONALITY

Fresh asparagus is the vegetable world’s herald of true spring—the real, cottony, lush, flowery spring of April and May. Fresh, locally grown organic asparagus arrives in the stores and markets in most of the country then, and at an affordable price.

In addition to spring asparagus, summer and fall asparagus can be grown in most parts of the country. The asparagus plant doesn’t care when you harvest its spears, as long as you only harvest them for three or four weeks and let the spears grow as they will at other times. So growers may harvest only part of their beds in the spring, letting the rest grow into ferny tops, and later cut these tops off at ground level in June, July, or August. The plants in those newly cut beds will send up new spears that can be harvested for three or four weeks.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

What you want are sweet, succulent, tender spears, which raises the question of whether thick or thin spears are more tender. Going against common sense, the thicker the spear, the more tender it is. The reason is that each spear, no matter what its size, has a set number of tough fibers that run its length. In a small spear, they’re crammed closer together and there’s less of that juicy white meat between them. In the fatter spears, the fibers are farther apart, separated by more tender, sweet meat. While larger spears are more tender, the smaller spears have their flavor components packed in a smaller space and so can be more flavorful.

As an aside, the size of asparagus spears does not reflect their maturity but rather depends on following four factors: variety (for example, a new variety called Grande has been bred for size), the amount of water the plant gets (abundant water equals large spears), planting depth (deeper planting means larger spears), and soil’s organic matter (a rich compost-amended soil allows the plant to produce fat, tender spears).

PREPARATION

Grasp the cut end in one hand and a spot a few inches from the tip in the other. Bend each spear until it snaps. That separates the tough part of the spear from the part that will prove tender enough to eat.  ....read more