Cinda Chavich, CBC Alberta’s food columnist, went searching for what might be the sweetest spring green in the local pantry.

click here for asparagus recipes...

LOCAL ASPARAGUS IS POPPING UP IN THE LOCAL GARDENS AND MARKETS?

Yes, that’s the thing about asparagus. One day it’s underground, the next day it’s popping up all over your garden and you’d better be there to harvest it.

I have an asparagus patch in my garden in the country, which happens to be just down the road from the biggest commercial asparagus patch in the province. It’s the Edgar Farm, just west of Bowden, where Doug and Elna Edgar harvest some of the sweetest, freshest Alberta asparagus you’ll ever taste.

I went out to the farm to see Elna yesterday, and she told me that when the weather gets warm, you can almost watch the asparagus grow.

Last Friday, when then started picking, they picked about 130 pounds, and when the temperature soared to 26 degrees on Wednesday, they picked 10 times that much, about 1,380 pounds, from the same patch. That was 12 pickers working for 12 hours, going over the fields to pick 58 km of asparagus rows twice in one day. She said the asparagus grew about 15 inches that day. And if it doesn’t cool off at night, it continues to grow – on Wednesday, she says, they could have gone over the field a third time to pick if they had the energy and pickers..

But with the cooler weather today, the rate of growth will slow.

SO THEY CAN PICK THE SAME PLANT TWICE? HOW EXACTLY DOES ASPARAGUS GROW?

You can pick the spears from a plant constantly for about 6 weeks every spring.

The asparagus fern is a perennial plant – it’s planted about 8 inches deep and the spears emerge every spring for weeks. What we eat is the immature shoots, when the heads are still tight and compact. If you let those spears grow, they form a tall, fern-like plant – and you have to let a few spears mature to the fern stage to nourish the plant, so that it will come back next year.

SO ANYONE CAN PLANT ASPARAGUS?

Sure, it does quite well in the sandy soils in central Alberta but the crop is relatively small. It’s also grown in Ontario and Manitoba and B.C. – in warmer regions the crop can be five times the yield of asparagus planted here.

But our cool climate gives the asparagus a really lovely sweet flavour. So if you try the local stuff, or grow your own, you can taste the difference.

You buy the crowns, plant them in a trench, and then wait for three years before you start to harvest it. Then you can be cutting asparagus every spring for years.

The Edgars let some of the ferns mature, and leave them standing over winter, then combine the tops in the spring and rototill right over the deep crowns to keep the weeds down, just before the spears start to emerge. Then it’s literally 6 weeks of full-tilt, 24-7 work, picking, washing, bundling, chilling and selling asparagus at farm markets in Calgary, Edmonton and other smaller venues.

IT MUST BE DIFFICULT TO PICK – IS EACH SPEAR CUT BY HAND?

Then they break off the bases, so that each spear is the same length, weigh and bundle them, wash them and chill them down in a cold water bath. When I was at the farm yesterday, there were a dozen people working, getting asparagus ready to ship to the farmer’s markets in Calgary and Edmonton this weekend.

IS THE CROP GOOD THIS YEAR?

Elna Edgar said she’s expecting a bumper crop this year. With the weather cooling off today, the asparagus will slow down, too, and become even sweeter. It’s really dependent on temperature. But they will continue picking until mid or late June, when the plants are left to regenerate for next year.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND LOCAL ASPARAGUS?

The Edgar’s sell their asparagus at the Calgary Farmer’s Market at Currie Barracks and the Old Strathcona Market in Edmonton. They are members of the Innisfail Growers – a co-op of local vegetable and fruit growers who market their products collectively. The Edgars also have a little store on their farm, where you can buy their asparagus products, including pickled asparagus, their naturally-raised beef, and other vegetables from the Innisfail growers throughout the season. Their farm is between Bowen and Innisfail, about 10 km west of the main highway on the Cottonwood Road. And there’s an honor box in the store, just take what you need and pay, even if they’re out in the field picking vegetables or feeding cattle.

WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK FOR WHEN BUYING FRESH ASPARAGUS?

Well, the tips should be tightly closed – if they’re looking scraggly, that means the plant has already started to bolt into its fern stage. The purple tops are the sweetest, and unlike other vegetables, it’s the fat stalks, not the thin ones that are the best.

Of course, the stalks should be bright green and firm, not shriveled. Avoid any with white bases – that is the tough bit that you will have to snap off and discard.

HOW DO YOU PREPARE AND STORE IT?

The best way to keep asparagus fresh is to stand it up in an inch of water in a container in the fridge, covered loosely with a plastic bag like a bouquet of flowers. It will keep a week this way.

Elna Edgar includes a little note with her asparagus, if it’s picked after a rain – to alert customers. If there’s no rain, there’s no grit, she says. But it’s easy to get rid of. Just soak the asparagus in a sinkful of very warm water for about 10 minutes, until those little leaves relax, swish the stems around to remove any dirt, and then plunge back into cold water to chill.

No need to peel fresh asparagus – it’s tender and delicious.

IS ASPARAGUS GOOD FOR YOU?

Absolutely. It’s a great seasonal green vegetable to eat at this time of year – a good source of Vitamins A and C, and the best vegetable source of folic acid. Asparagus is really low in calories, too. A 5-ounce serving – about 5 spears – has only 25 calories.

The Edgars never use chemicals on their asparagus.

It’s the high fat toppings – butter and hollandaise sauce – that add calories, and with this sweet, local asparagus you don’t need to smother it in sauces.

HOW DO YOU COOK IT?

One of my favourite ways to cook asparagus is to lightly grill it or roast it. Just rub lightly with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and bake it on a cookie sheet in a hot 500 oven for 6 minutes, or cook it on the barbecue. A squeeze of fresh lemon juice or light grating of good quality Parmesan cheese is all it needs.

If you want to boil it, stand the spears upright in a few inches of boiling water (just the bottom third of the asparagus should be submerged), cover the pot and simmer for 5 minutes. Keep the bundle tied together with string while it’s boiling. Edgar says you can use a special asparagus pot or an old coffee pot, too.

WHAT ABOUT RECIPES?

Well, the beauty of asparagus, is that it’s just an easy and beautiful vegetable to serve on its own. Just cook it and arrange it on a plate, drizzle with a bit of lemon juice or melted butter and pass it around. The sweet fresh shoots can be sliced to include in pasta salads, or tossed into a dish of risotto to lightly steam, you can even make a lovely cream of asparagus soup, but the way to eat asparagus is straight up.

Asparagus is also a beautiful vegetable to include in a stir fry – just cut into  2-inch lengths and cook quickly with a little oil, ginger, garlic and a dash of sesame oil for a few minutes.

I’ve included a couple of recipes here if you need to get inventive like me, and deal with a bumper crop. I’ve included a simple sauté with butter and a bit of Parmesan cheese, and a recipe for pickling asparagus (we use them like celery sticks in spicy Caesars – very local).

But otherwise, just get some local asparagus and enjoy it while it’s fresh and in season like I do –standing out in the garden the moment I snap if off!

click here for asparagus recipes...

©Cinda Chavich 2007

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