Asparagus Totally Explained

Everything about Asparagus Vegetable totally explained

Asparagus officinalis is a flowering plant species in the genus Asparagus from which the popular vegetable known as asparagus is obtained. It is native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. It is now also widely cultivated as a vegetable crop.

Biology

Asparagus is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 100-150 cm tall, with stout larissa stems with much-branched feathery foliage. The 'leaves' are in fact needle-like cladodes (modified stems) in the axils of scale leaves; they're 6–32 mm long and 1 mm broad, and clustered 4–15 together. The flowers are bell-shaped, greenish-white to yellowish, 4.5–6.5 mm long, with six tepals partially fused together at the base; they're produced singly or in clusters of 2-3 in the junctions of the branchlets. It is usually dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, but sometimes hermaphrodite flowers are found. The fruit is a small red berry 6–10 mm diameter. Green asparagus is eaten worldwide, commonly with eggs in China and with beef in Britain. It isn't considered a delicacy as it's very cheap and easy to obtain. This doesn't hold for white asparagus, see Cultivation. These are considered a popular but expensive May-June seasonal delicacy in northwest Europe, locally nicknamed "white gold". Plants native to the western coasts of Europe (from northern Spain north to Ireland, Great Britain, and northwest Germany) are treated as Asparagus officinalis subsp. prostratus (Dumort.) Corb., distinguished by its low-growing, often prostrate stems growing to only 30–70 cm high, and shorter cladodes 2–18 mm long.

History

Asparagus has been used from very early times as a vegetable and medicine, owing to its delicate flavour and diuretic properties. There is a recipe for cooking asparagus in the oldest surviving book of recipes, Apicius’s third century AD De re coquinaria, Book III. It was cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, who ate it fresh when in season and dried the vegetable for use in winter. It lost its popularity in the Middle Ages but returned to favour in the seventeenth century.

Uses

Culinary

Only the young shoots of asparagus are eaten. Asparagus is low in calories, contains no fat or cholesterol, and is very low in sodium. It is a good source of folic acid, potassium, dietary fiber, and rutin. The amino acid asparagine gets its name from asparagus, the asparagus plant being rich in this compound.
   The shoots are prepared and served in a number of ways around the world. In Asian-style cooking, asparagus is often stir-fried. Cantonese restaurants in the United States often serve asparagus stir-fried with chicken, shrimp, or beef, also wrapped in bacon. Asparagus may also be quickly grilled over charcoal or hardwood embers. It is also used as an ingredient in some stews and soups. In the French style, it's often boiled or steamed and served with hollandaise sauce, melted butter or olive oil, Parmesan cheese or mayonnaise. The best asparagus tends to be early growth (meaning first of the season) and is often simply steamed and served along with melted butter. Tall asparagus cooking pots allow the shoots to be steamed gently.
   Asparagus can also be pickled and stored for several years. Some brands may label them as "marinated" which means the same thing.
   The bottom portion of asparagus often contains sand, and as such proper preparation is generally advised in cooking asparagus.

Medicinal

Asparagus rhizomes and root is used ethnomedically to treat urinary tract infections, as well as kidney and bladder stones. It is also believed to have aphrodisiac properties.
   Ingestion of Asparagus may bring on an attack of gout in certain individuals due to the high level of purines.
   Nutritional Value & Health Benefits
   Asparagus is low in calories and provides substantial amounts of two antioxidants—vitamin A and C. It truly shines as a source of folate and has a goodly amount of fiber.

Nutrition Facts

(Serving size, 1/2 cup cooked) Calories 90
Protein 2 grams
Carbohydrates 4 grams
Dietary Fiber 1.5 grams
Potassium 144 mg
Vitamin C 10 mg
Folate 131 mcg
Vitamin A 485 IU

Cultivation

Since asparagus often originates in maritime habitats, it thrives in soils that are too saline for normal weeds to grow in. Thus a little salt was traditionally used to suppress weeds in beds intended for asparagus; this has the disadvantage that the soil can't be used for anything else. 'Crowns' are planted in winter, and the first shoots appear in spring; the first pickings or 'thinnings' are known as sprue asparagus. Sprue have thin stems. White asparagus, known as spargel, is cultivated by denying the plants light and increasing the amount of ultraviolet light the plants are exposed to while they're being grown. Less bitter than the green variety, it's very popular in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany where 57,000 tonnes (61% of consumer demands) are produced annually.
Purple asparagus differs from its green and white counterparts, having high sugar and low fibre levels. Purple asparagus was originally developed in Italy and commercialised under the variety name Violetto d'Albenga. Since then, breeding work has continued in countries such as the United States and New Zealand.

Companion planting

Asparagus is a useful companion plant for tomatoes. The tomato plant repels the asparagus beetle, as do several other common companion plants of tomatoes, meanwhile asparagus may repel some harmful root nematodes that affect tomato plants(External Link

Commercial production

As of 2007, Peru is the world's leading asparagus exporter, followed by China and Mexico. The top asparagus importers (2004) were the United States (92,405 tonnes), followed by the European Union (external trade) (18,565 tonnes), and Japan (17,148 tonnes). The United States' production for 2005 was on 218.5 km² (54,000 acres) and yielded 90,200 tonnes, making it the world's third largest producer, after China (5,906,000 tonnes) and Peru (206,030 tonnes). US production was concentrated in California, Michigan, and Washington. Derivatives of asparagusic acid are also found in urine. The speed of onset of urine smell has been estimated to occur within 15-30 minutes of ingestion. All individuals produce the odorous compounds after eating asparagus, but only about 40% of the population have the autosomal genes required to smell them.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Asparagus Vegetable'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://asparagus.totallyexplained.com">Asparagus Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.