There are people who will tell you that asparagus is so good it’s a shame to call it a vegetable.
Such are the powers of the green stalk just now coming into its prime growing and eating season. Long a staple on many tables on Easter Sunday, the good news is that asparagus is as good for the body as it is for the soul.
Shannon Justice is a nutritionist with St. John’s Regional Medical Center and an affirmed asparagus lover. Justice, who lives on a farm where asparagus grows wild, said she has already started looking for signs of the plant.
The health value with asparagus, Justice said, is that it has a high vitamin C content. According to Justice, a 3-ounce serving (equal to about eight stalks) provides as much vitamin C as an orange. That 3-ounce serving equals 55 percent of the recommended daily allowance.
Like all vegetables, there are good and not-so-good ways to prepare asparagus that take advantage of its health benefits. Justice said you want to avoid boiling asparagus for an extended amount of time.
“If you boil it you can lose 50 percent of its vitamin C content,” she said.
If you’re in a hurry, Justice suggests wrapping the asparagus in a wet paper towel and putting it into the microwave to give it a quick steam. You can also blanch it quickly in hot water or bake or grill it. The main thing you want to avoid is having asparagus sit in water for any extended period of time, she said.
Gayl Navarro, owner of Ozark Nursery, 5361 N. Main St., said it’s possible for patient asparagus lovers to set themselves up with a almost unlimited supply of fresh asparagus. As it turns out, the plant — once given a few years to truly take root — is a prodigious grower and will continue to sprout pretty much year after year and in greater and greater numbers.
“Once you plant them, it takes a couple of years before you can harvest them. The first year you don’t harvest at all and then in the second year you can harvest about half,” Navarro said.
According to plant guides, it’s not until the fourth year that you will be able to fully harvest your asparagus crop. But after that fourth year, she said, you will have an ample supply of fresh asparagus. And since asparagus is a perennial, you shouldn’t ever have to replant it.
“You plant it once and it just goes and goes,” she said.
Navarro said she sells asparagus roots at her nursery. Currently asparagus roots are selling for about $1.35 a root. One root, she said, will produce several asparagus spears. The suggested planting dates for asparagus runs from approximately March 14 through April 5. Harvesting dates run from early to mid-April and runs into late May.
The following asparagus recipes are among those available at www.whatscookingamerica.net.
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