Nutrition

SPEAR A THOUGHT FOR ASPARAGUS

WORDS RACHEL HART

You’d be hard-pressed to think of a vegetable more symbolic of spring than asparagus. Starting to pop up in farmers markets and greengrocers as early as September, it’s not until you have your first bite of these slender green stems that you feel you can safely say goodbye to winter.

While traditionalists will do little more than steam, grill or fry them, there are plenty of creative ways to enjoy asparagus. They are excellent tossed into a pasta, baked into a frittata or shaved into a salad.

Packed with nutrients, it’s worth including asparagus in your weekly food shop for the few months of the year that they’re available. The tender spears offer a decent dose of vitamins A, C and E and half your daily vitamin K quota. If you’re looking to swap your salad for another healthy, high fibre, low calorie alternative, asparagus is your go-to spring side dish.

While it’s no shock that this green vegetable is chock-full of nutrients, it may be a little surprising to learn that asparagus contains more folate than almost any other vegetable on the planet. Playing a role in making blood cells, turning carbs into energy and fetal development during pregnancy, folate is a very useful nutrient and, while it is in many fruits and vegetables, it’s often found only in minute quantities. One serving of asparagus, on the other hand, will give you a third of your daily needs.

With a unique texture and an earthy flavour, asparagus can be a divisive, love-it-or-hate-it type of food. If you don’t understand what all the fuss is about, there are a few tricks that can help you change camps. First and foremost, a dry cooking method like roasting or grilling is a good idea, as the waterlogged version is not nearly as nice as a crisp spear. And always keep cooking times to a minimum to enhance the crunch.

Another tip is to make sure you’re eating asparagus at its sweetest and freshest. Asparagus doesn’t have a long shelf-life, so buy it direct from growers and consume within a few days. If you’re not eating it immediately, cut the ends and store the spears upright in the fridge in a cup of water. This way, the tender stems will stay fresh and won’t go limp or rubbery as quickly.

Finally, asparagus is so densely packed with nutrients that it can stand up to some of its most delicious pairings and still offer some goodness to counteract the guilt! How does asparagus wrapped in bacon, deep-fried or smothered in hollandaise sauce sound to you?

The bottom of the asparagus stalk can be tough and woody, but that doesn’t mean it has to end up in the rubbish bin! Making an asparagus stalk pesto; peeling them into thin slices that can go into soups or salads or adding them to a spring vegetable pickle are all excellent ways to use up the entire plant.

It's a blink-and-you-miss-it food, so keep an eye out for this quintessential springtime wonder!

Rachel Hart

Hailing from Canada, Rachel has fallen in love with life in the beautiful Bay of Plenty where she is a freelance writer with a passion for healthy food. She splits her time between telling people’s stories, creating web content and experimenting in the kitchen.

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