SOPHIE'S WISDOM #2

   Today let’s talk about Asparagus.

  Tender pretty asparagus is showing up in all the groceries. It’s a tad before it might be growing here in someone’s garden, but the stores do rush everything do they not. Berries are showing up as well. I don’t mind too much as the asparagus has been so nice and so cheep I buy some before I even eat up the last batch.

     Asparagus is a fern and what we eat is the stalk before the fern opens up. The tender tips open into wispy lovely fronds, but by that point they are not so good to eat. Similarly folks eat fiddleheads, which is the unopened frond of a few species of edible ferns, ostrich fern being the main one. The unopened parts of both ferns are tasty and tender where as, once opened they will be bitter and frankly not a good texture for cooking without them just falling apart as they are so thin. so fiddle heads are another article, and we continue with Asparagus, but i wanted to show the comparison in these two springtime  foods.

Asparagus Ferns

Fiddleheads of Ferns

Cooking with Fiddleheads

       Asparagus grows from a root system which takes few years to mature before you get good stalks, but one the root system is established you have asparagus for years to come. The system needs room as well about 8 x 2 feet is a good area, and along a fence is excellent. They take partial sun so a little shade form a fence is preferable. You must leave some of the stalks to fern out completely each year so the open fronds are nourishing the plant with their photosynthesis. At a certain point in mid summer no more stalks will be growing up and you need to just enjoy the look of the ferny shrub until the season is done. Don’t cut ALL the stalks that come up foe eating, or cut down the shrub ferns until they are done for the summer or you will hurt or even kill the root system.

     If you get a good new young batch of asparagus the entire stalk pretty much will be tender, but later in the season the stalks are bigger and the lower “cut ends” need to be shaved off or taken off up to half way up to the tender parts at the “tip ends.”

      

     I really did not need so much to shave off the ends here but I did so to show this easy full proof method for excellent asparagus.

     First, with a vegetable peeler, you want to shave off the purple ends about an inch or more from the bottom (cut end) of the stalk. If they are really older and tough you will be able to see the tough skins at the bottom

      

.     Next take each spear and holding the very bottom in one hand and about 1.5  up to 2 .5 inches (depending on larger and tougher spears) above there in the other hand and  bend it. It will snap at the point where the tough stem is done and the tender part begins. Plants will differentiate cell formation for various purposes adapting to need, and they will do it quickly. As the stalks get bigger the bottoms grow differently and firmer to support the tender tips which will soon open up into a large fern. This is necessary as the wind and weight would break them of otherwise when they open up. These tougher ends are what you are wanting to break off but you need to skin them a bit first so they snap easily without tough skin around the sides getting in the way or making woody attachments.

     *Just a total side note, gardening tip,… this property of plants cell differentiation is one thing to be aware of when you transplant anything. When taking a plant to a new pot you must be sure the level of soil on the stem stays in the exact same place in the new pot. The cells have differentiated at that very level. Anything above is stem, anything below is root. If you plant it too deep the cells just under the dirt which were meant to be stem not root, are not adapted to dirt, darkness, and moisture, and the plant will rot of at the soil point. If too shallow the exposed root part, not used to light and dryness, will dry up and the plant will wither. Sometimes the plant cells will re-differentiate in time, but this stunts the plant if it makes it at all. I digress though back to asparagus stalks.

     

     

     After you snap all the ends off of the spears wash them well but gently, and salt the wet asparagus lightly. Now add salt generously to a mason jar or two, about ½ tsp per jar. Now place the spears in the mason jar, or two or three jars if you have a lot of asparagus, tips up and cut ends in the jar. Add to each jar about 1 to 1.5 inches of water covering the cut ends. Now there are two ways to go from here.

     

      Place the jars in the microwave and cook for two minutes then a minute at a time until they are tender to your liking. You want them to be soft enough to bite into the stalk easily with just a smidge of crispness left. And they should still be a pretty green color. Peoples microwaves have different power and the times may vary that’s why I say start with two minutes and check at each minute after that. Once you have done it you will know what your microwave does. Mine is about just right at five minutes so I don’t have to keep checking anymore, and five minutes is just about right for me.

   Cooking them this way, upright in the jar(s) assures they cook very evenly. Sometimes the bottoms take more time to cook fully as they are a bit denser and tougher, and by the time they are done the tips are mushy, which is why sometimes people just cook the tips. However with this method the bottoms are cooking quicker and hotter than the tips and all come out evenly tender-crisp at the same time.

      The second way to go is if your microwave is to small to stand up the jars in or you don’t have a microwave or don’t wish to use it, is to steam them in a tall steamer or in a tall stock pot. It has to be a tall one able to hold the jars in it upright with the top of the stock pot or steamer on. For a steamer you really need not use the steamer basket. Place the jars inside upright add water to the bottom of the pot to a level just about ¼ inch below the water level within the jars. Cover and turn the heat on high to steam, once the water in the pot starts to boil causing the steam with the lid firmly on. It doesn’t take long. Small tender asparagus will be done in about five minutes like the microwave, thicker older spears will take a bit more time. Check after five minutes and continue cooking until the desires tenderness is arrived at. WHEN CHECKING ANYTHING STEAMING… ALWAYS TURN OFF THE HEAT FIRST, AND OPEN THE LID WITH AN OVEN MIT OR POT HOLDER LIFTING THE SIDE OF THE LID FURTHEST AWAY FROM YOU BY TILTING IT UP FIRST TO ALLOW THE STEAM TO COME OUT ON THE OTHER SIDE AWAY FROM YOUR FACE AND HAND.

       After your asparagus is done, drain it in a colander lay it on a platter and eat it with Hollandaise sauce ( Hollandaise recipe and instructions will be coming soon), or there are many ways to eat and enjoy it or put it into a recipe.

     Blessings mes amis.