Asparagus Tips

By:   Jennifer Anderson

Asparagus is one of our favorite harbingers of spring. These delectable stalks with their vivid color and delicate flavor are good hot or cold, dressed up or down.

Through Thick and Thin

Asparagus comes in several sizes, ranging in diameter from thinner than a drinking straw to fatter than your thumb.

• The tiny, tender spears come from very young asparagus plants, and the fatter spears derive from older plants. The baby spears can be sautéed, or rubbed lightly with olive oil and grilled.
• The fatter spears will need to be trimmed and either steamed or boiled in order to be tender. The cooks of the world have been debating for ages over which is more delicious: thin asparagus or thick.
• While some people prefer the smaller spears for their delicacy and tenderness, others prefer the fatter ones for their more robust flavor and a meaty texture they can really sink their teeth into.

How to Buy and Store Asparagus

Whatever size you chose, look for firm, brightly colored stalks with tightly closed tips.

• Asparagus begins to lose its sweetness as soon as it's picked, so try to cook it as soon as possible after you buy it.
• If you do plan to store it in your refrigerator for a few days after you get it home, treat it like a bouquet of flowers: trim a small amount from the bottoms of the stalks with a sharp knife and place them in a tall glass with a little water in the bottom. Cover the top loosely with a plastic bag, and store in the refrigerator. This will keep the stalks firm and crisp until you are ready to cook them.
  

How to Prep Asparagus

The way you prepare your asparagus can depend upon its size.

• The smallest spears will only need to have their very bottoms trimmed off before cooking.
• The bottom portions of larger asparagus spears can be chewy and woody; they will either need to be snapped off or peeled. To snap off the tough portion, simply grasp the stalk with both hands and bend the bottom portion until it breaks off. The asparagus will naturally break off at the point where the tender portion ends and the tough, stringy part begins.
• If you want to be less wasteful, you can peel your asparagus instead. Simply lay a stalk of asparagus flat on the countertop and strip away the tough outside layer with a vegetable peeler, beginning just below the tip and working your way towards the bottom
  

How to Cook Asparagus

Cooking times depend upon the size of your asparagus.

• Tiny spears only need a minute or two in a sauté pan.
• Larger spears may need more than five minutes in boiling salted water before they're perfectly tender.
• However you choose to cook it, watch your asparagus closely so that it doesn't get overdone. The flawlessly cooked spear is easy to penetrate with a knife, but still bright green in color.