Delicious, healthy asparagus
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Asparagus for your health!
Can it cure cancer? Eating locally with the seasons
May and June are the peak of asparagus season and provide an opportunity to stock up for the year on a nutrient rich powerhouse of health benefits. If you're into eating with the seasons, then asparagus is the first fresh vegetable available after the long, hard Winter and Spring. (That is, if you live in a northern / temperate climate. It's different for people living in California or the south). Of course even in the most northern regions of the US and Canada you can get fresh produce year round, but it's definitely been transported a long way. If you're lucky it comes from California, Arizona, Texas, or Florida, but most fresh produce you can buy in the Winter comes from places like Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and other South and Central American countries that do not share our labor and environmental standards and laws. Stock up in May and June
So… Back to asparagus! You will find large quantities in the stores in May and June, and it's much more likely that it came from some place closer to home than Central America, so now is the time to stock up. If you're really lucky, you live someplace where asparagus grows wild and you can go pick it yourself. (One caveat here: In the San Luis Valley we have an abundance of asparagus growing on the road sides, but in most places the county sprays the road sides with herbicide for weed control unless landowners do as we do and declare themselves exempt from spraying where the road goes through or is adjacent to their land. In so doing we have to manage the roadside weeds ourselves, which we do mechanically with a weed whacker. So be sure the asparagus you pick hasn't been sprayed with herbicides).
Svor it all year round
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Ideally I like to pick asparagus from each patch every 3 or 4 days to keep it from going to seed. Since that requires a huge time commitment, I'm happy to have friends go pick when I can't so that the plants will keep producing spears. (Once they go to seed they don't produce any more spears that year). If you live in an area with intermittent wetlands or irrigated agriculture (or both) do some research to see if asparagus grows wild near you. If it does, it could very well be worth it to cultivate relationships with landowners who have it on their property so you might have the opportunity to pick some for yourself. Why you want to include lots of asparagus in your diet
Can it cure cancer?
We all know how asparagus can clean out the kidneys (we all have the same reaction to it that I won't go into here), but some people are claiming that a daily, cooked asparagus regimen has helped them cure their cancer and many other maladies. You can click on the following website link where a number of people have offered anecdotal cases where their health was vastly improved by ingesting a little asparagus every day. Some even claiming that their cancer was eliminated after rounds of chemo and radiation had proven to be ineffective and the medical establishment had given up on them. Stocking up for the rest of the year
If the above is even remotely true, and we know that asparagus cleans out the kidneys every time we eat it, then one of the best things you can do for your health is to eat it consistently throughout the year. So how can we store the asparagus that we get in May and June? If you've been following our tips of the week you know that I am a huge advocate of having an abundance of freezer capacity to live a wholesome dining lifestyle, and asparagus is one of the many reasons why.
Blanche and freeze
The easiest way to store asparagus is to blanche and freeze it. Yes, this is a little time consuming, but aren't your health and enjoyment worth it? Not only that, just picture yourself on a cold January day being able to enjoy your own asparagus. One of my favorite treats on a brisk winter day is a steaming bowl of Cream of Asparagus Soup. Though time consuming, blanching and freezing is easy, especially if you do it together! It helps to have some kind of large pot with a basket liner. I use a long, narrow, pasta pot with a fitted basket. Here are the simple steps:
- Cut off woody ends of asparagus (but don't throw them away - save for Cream of Asparagus Soup
- Bring water and 1/4 Tsp. salt to a boil in large pot
- Place asparagus spears in basket liner
- Place basket full of spears in boiling water
- Fill large pan or bowl with ice water
- After asparagus has boiled for 2 - 3 minutes remove basket of spears from boiling water
- Immediately submerge asparagus in ice water to stop cooking
- After a minute or less remove from ice water
- Place on towel or paper towel to dry
- Place blanched asparagus in zipper lock bags or vacuum seal bags if you have a sealer
- Place bags in freezer
- Enjoy asparagus year round!
Steaming is an option
Rather than blanching in boiling water, some people choose to steam the asparagus instead. To do that, follow the same instructions as above, except steam the asparagus for 4 to 5 minutes instead of boiling it. Steaming is advantageous in that it preserves more of the nutrients, but you need a very large steamer, which most people don't have, to be able to freeze large volumes. Or make soup and freeze it
Remember those woody ends you cut off before blanching? They're very tough, chewy, and fibrous, which can make them somewhat unpalatable, but they have the same great flavor and nutrients as the tips and spears. With our Hearty Cream of Asparagus Soup Recipe you can put those woody ends to good use, and have a healthy, wholesome, hearty, and delicious meal year round. Beef and asparagus together make a wonderful dish that's easy to freeze
Another dish that you can make from fresh asparagus that can freeze very easily is our Beef and Asparagus Pasta Toss, which is a recipe I adapted from the 1999 National Beef Cook Off. Eat asparagus weekly
If you can store up enough, or even buy organic asparagus canned, you'll want to add this miracle vegetable to your weekly menu plan. You'll be glad you did!
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