Aspara-grass?
Living in New England has its benefits. One, is the different varieties of vegetables that are available here. Asparagus is one such vegetable. I recently read an article about how a small town in Massachusetts, West Brookfield, has reasoned out that they should get credit for being the first area where asparagus grew. People in this small town believe that one, Diedrick Leertouwer, sent for asparagus seeds from Holland in 1795, which he planted. The resulting plants still grow wild today as asparagus is a perennial from the lily family. Some of these townspeople think that the title of Asparagus Capital should be given to where the plant originated. Sorry folks, but wouldn’t that be Holland? Hadley, MA claims to be one of such places, refers to asparagus as its “grass”, and even has created an asparagus ice cream. Once again, sorry, rather have purple cow! Soils in Hadley, which is in the western part of Massachusetts, has the perfect soil for growing this hardest living stalk in the vegetable world. Asparagus toughens from the bottom up and keeps growing even when cut. The loss of sweetness and toughening occurs the day following harvest. Fresh cut asparagus should be refrigerated immediately and cooked asap. To retain the tender part of the stalk for cooking, bend the stalk and it will snap where the toughening ends. Some people just cut off 6-7 inches from the tip. The remaining ends can be sliced and munched as they are crispy and flavorful. Forget about the bottoms as they are a little too tough to enjoy. I always steam my asparagus for a few minutes. I serve it with a little butter, salt, and pepper. Here is a site, that will provide lots of recipes for cooking this delectable vegetable.
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