Asparagus is a perennial vegetable and versatile, healthy food with unique tastes resembling the broccoli plant. Asparagus has a mildly bitter taste and is a specialty of grasses, and old asparagus plants have a sour taste. It is low in calories and possesses fibers, folate, and vitamins C & E. Furthermore, this vegetable has potential health benefits like weight loss and improved digestion.
What is asparagus?
Asparagus belongs to the Asparagaceae family and is known as asparagus officinalis. It is a perennial vegetable containing tall, solid, smooth, erect stems with red fruits that are not edible.
Asparagus is available in the spring season and is expensive compared to the other vegetables that come all year round.
What does asparagus look like?
The asparagus is a grass-like plant with a green, purple, or white color that depends on its cultivation. The asparagus has a compact head and pointed ends containing loads of fiber and nutrients.
What does asparagus taste like?
Asparagus is a unique vegetable with a strong flavor resembling mushrooms and broccoli. It tastes like beans when you bake it with lemon juice and olive oil as well as you can add garlic to asparagus if you have to serve them with meat steak.
Asparagus taste depends upon the ingredients you have used in cooking them because they soak the flavors. You can consume them as snacks after frying and boiling and take them in soup.
Avoid overcooking asparagus because if you overcook, they will lose their actual crispy flavor, indicating this vegetable’s freshness.
How to prepare asparagus?
The preparation method of asparagus affects its flavor, and it is true about all the vegetables. Asparagus in raw form has an earthy grassy flavor and bitterness with a bit of sweetness.
If you want to restore the grassy flavor of asparagus, you should boil them for a minute and then put them in a bowl of ice water which maintains the crunchy stalks and green color of the stalks.
You can use asparagus after caramelizing them, making them soft and sweet, and roast or deep fry the stalks if you don’t like its initial grassy flavor.
How to store asparagus?
To store the asparagus for a long time, place the stalks in a glass of water and cover the tips with a plastic paper. Before storing them try to wash the stalks. It will enhance their storage period and preserve the nutrients.
When you store asparagus in the refrigerator, keep them away from other vegetables because it secretes ethylene gas which accelerates the ripening.
What does asparagus smell like?
Asparagus doesn’t have any specific smell. However, If you buy a bundle of asparagus and feel an unpleasant odor, then check the bundle; it may be rotten or moldy, which causes an unappealing odor in your home.
What is the texture of asparagus?
Fresh asparagus should be crunchy and firm. Some people love to eat crispy and freshly cooked asparagus, and some like to eat the tenderer ones.
When you store the asparagus for months, it gets wrinkled, loses its crispy texture, and nutrients become low. Asparagus spears that are fatty and wide tend to be meaty in texture, and if they are not in season, they may be woody or fibrous.
When is asparagus available?
Asparagus is available all year, although spring is the best season for asparagus cultivation. This season, the amount of nutrients in the crop rises and becomes more healthy.
Types of asparagus
Asparagus has many types like green, white, purple, apollo, and atlas asparagus, which all possess their specific characteristics.
Green asparagus has rough pale ends and feathery tips, which become more vibrant when delicately cooked. White asparagus is more expensive than green, though it has the same texture and flavor.
Purple asparagus gets its purple color because of antioxidants and possesses less amount of sugar. As a result, it has fewer fibers, is more tender, and is less bitter.
Apollo asparagus grows in the wild regions, and atlas asparagus resembles the apollo and can grow nine inches from the ground.
Benefits of asparagus
Asparagus is low in calories and contains high amounts of fiber and vitamins like vitamin K, C, and B when steamed or quickly boiled.
Eating asparagus with lemon juice will help to take the iron from the vegetable, as well as it is a rich source of potassium that regulates the blood pressure.
Asparagus contains antioxidants that prevent cancer and many other heart diseases, and vitamin A protects the eyes.
Final words
Asparagus is a versatile vegetable with several health benefits and a unique taste. This perennial vegetable has a mild grassy and bitter flavor that resembles broccoli.
Asparagus can soak the flavors of ingredients used to make it, and you can eat asparagus by boiling and frying it.
Like other vegetables, asparagus is a rich source of fiber and vitamins, which help to prevent heart diseases and cancer.