Asparagus

A bundle of cultivated asparagus.

Asparagus officinalis (garden asparagus) is a commercially important plant, belonging to the genus Asparagus, which consists of more than 200 species. The species Asparagus officinalis s an important food crop, eaten in the form of its young thickened shoots, called spears. The term “wild asparagus”, popularized by Euell Gibbons, generally designates the species ‘’Asparagus acutifolius’’ – although people in North America commonly use the term "wild asparagus" to designate feral asparagus consisting of varieties of Asparagus officinalis growing in the wild.

Quotes

• ASPARAGUS
  1 box frozen cut asparagus    2 Tb butter in a skillet
  2 Tb salt                                    Salt and pepper
  Allow the asparagus to thaw until the pieces separate from each other. Then drop into 4 quarts of rapidly boiling water. Add 2 tablespoons salt, bring rapidly back to the boil uncovered for 3 or 4 minutes, until asparagus is barely tender. Drain. If not to be served immediately, run cold water over asparagus to stop the cooking and set the fresh color and texture. Several minutes before serving, toss gently in 2 tablespoons hot butter to finish cooking. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  • Julia Child, The French Chef Cookbook. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. 2023. p. 100. ISBN 9780593537473.  (496 pages; 1st edition 1963)

• The usual method of preparing asparagus pursued by the Roman cooks was to select the finest sprouts and to dry them. When wanted for the table they were put in hot water and cooked a few minutes. To this practice is owing one of Emperor Augustus's favorite sayings: "Citius quam asparagi coquentur" (Do it quicker than you can cook asparagus).
  • Fred Maier Hexamer, Asparagus. New York: Orange Judd Company. 1903. p. 2. 

• Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is one of the world’s top 20 vegetable crops. Both green and white shoots (spears) are produced; the latter being harvested before becoming exposed to light. The crop is grown in nearly all areas of the world, with the largest production regions being China, Western Europe, North America and Peru. Successful production demands high farmer input and specific environmental conditions and cultivation practices. Asparagus materials have also been used for centuries as herbal medicine. Despite this widespread cultivation and consumption, we still know relatively little about the biochemistry of this crop and how this relates to the nutritional, flavour, and neutra-pharmaceutical properties of the materials used. To date, no-one has directly compared the contrasting compositions of the green and white crops.
  • Eirini Pegiou, Roland Mumm, Parag Acharya, [https://research.com/u/ric-c-h-de-vos Ric C.H. de Vos, and Robert D. Hall, (2019) . "Green and white asparagus (Asparagus officinalis): A source of developmental, chemical and urinary intrigue". Metabolites 10 (1): 17.

External links

• Roasted asparagus. Love & Lemons.
• Charlotte Grainger and Lisa A. Kaminski, 36 Flavorful Asparagus Recipes to Make for Dinner This Spring. Taste of Home.