what do u mean by asphargus. for what is it used?

Answer 1

Asparagus. Its a great tasting green spear shaped vegitable. Do not over cook to mush. Buying tip: remember the thinner spears have more flavor, buy them fresh and firm not soft.

ideas for cooking:

Answer 2

This universally popular vegetable is one of the lily family's cultivated forms. The optimum season for fresh asparagus lasts from February through June, although hothouse asparagus is available year-round in some regions. The earliest, most tender stalks are a beautiful apple green with purple-tinged tips. Europeans prefer white asparagus (particularly the famous French asparagus of Argenteuil), which is grown underground to prevent it from becoming green. White spears are usually thick and are smoother than the green variety. There's also a purple variety called Viola. When buying asparagus, choose firm, bright green (or pale ivory) stalks with tight tips. Asparagus plants live 8 to 10 years and the spear's size indicates the age of the plant from which it came-the more mature the plant, the thicker the asparagus. It's best cooked the same day it's purchased but will keep, tightly wrapped in a plastic bag, 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator. Or, store standing upright in about an inch of water, covering the container with a plastic bag. Asparagus is grown in sandy soil so thorough washing is necessary to ensure the tips are not gritty. If asparagus stems are tough, remove the outer layer with a vegetable peeler. Canned and frozen asparagus is also available. Asparagus contains a good amount of vitamin A and is a fair source of iron and vitamins B and C..

Answer 3

Asparagus is a green and great tasting vegetable and expensive too. Just boil in lightly salted water until tender, not mushy,and serve with melted butter salt or a Hollandaise sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

Answer 4

it is a vegetable that you can eat alone or with egg or pasta.
I'm italian and don't write english very well...I hope you'll understand my orrible english!
In a pot put three cups of water and two of vinegar, when the water bubbles throws a egg and cook for five minutes(this is a poached egg), then with a strainer thake it and put on the asparago,add some butter and some cheese (do you no parmigiano?).
Bye

Answer 5

An Asparagus is a vegetable

Answer 6

it is a type of western vegetable. greenish in colour and look like a pencil in apperance. almost used in every western veg. preparation nainly in Italian food. also served as an accompanimemt after blanching.

Answer 7

Asparagus is a vegetable, it is used in meals, Is your spelling correct? If so, then it is my error, look it up in the Dictionary .

Answer 8

It is a vegetable, we cook it, serve it and eat it. good for our health cuz it's a green vegetable which means it's full of fibre.

Answer 9

Asparagus is a veg. that you can steam and cover in melted butter,,,it is pretty expensive but sooooo good!

Answer 10

Asparagus is a type of vegetable obtained from one species within the genus Asparagus, specifically the young shoots of Asparagus officinalis. It has been used from very early times as a culinary vegetable, owing to its delicate flavour and diuretic properties. There is a recipe for cooking asparagus in the oldest surviving book of recipes, Apicius's 3rd century CE De re coquinaria.

White asparagus is cultivated by denying the plants light while they are being grown.

The English word "asparagus" derives from classical Latin, but the plant was once known in English as sperage, from the Medieval Latin sparagus. This term itself derives from the Greek aspharagos or asparagos, and the Greek term originates from the Persian asparag, meaning "sprout" or "shoot." The original Latin name has now supplanted the English word. Asparagus was also corrupted in some places to "sparrow grass"; indeed, John Walker stated in 1791 that "Sparrow-grass is so general that asparagus has an air of stiffness and pedantry."

AsparagusIn their simplest form, the shoots are boiled or steamed until tender and served with a light sauce like hollandaise or melted butter or a drizzle of olive oil with a dusting of Parmesan cheese. A refinement is to tie the shoots into sheaves and stand them so that the lower part of the stalks are boiled, while the more tender heads are steamed. Tall cylindrical asparagus cooking pots have liners with handles and perforated bases to make this process foolproof.

Unlike most vegetables, where the smaller and thinner are the more tender, thick asparagus stalks have more tender volume to the proportion of skin. When asparagus have been too long in the market, the cut ends will have dried and gone slightly concave. The best asparagus are picked and washed while the water comes to the boil. Meticulous cooks scrape asparagus stalks with a vegetable peeler, stroking away from the head, and refresh them in ice-cold water before steaming them; the peel is often added back to the cooking water and removed only after the asparagus is done, this is supposed to prevent diluting the flavor. Small or full-sized stalks can be made into asparagus soup. Cantonese restaurants in the United States often serve asparagus stir-fried with chicken, shrimp, or beef. Asparagus is one of few foods which is considered acceptable to eat with the hands in polite company, although this is more common in Europe.

White asparagus (left) and green asparagus (right)Some of the constituents of asparagus are metabolised and excreted in the urine, giving it a distinctive, mildly unpleasant odor. The smell is caused by various sulfur-containing degradation products (e.g. thiols and thioesters). Studies showed that about 40% of the test subjects displayed this characteristic smell; and a similar percentage of people are able to smell the odor once it is produced. There does not seem to be any correlation between peoples' production and detection of the smell.[1] The speed of onset of urine smell is rapid, and has been estimated to occur within 15-30 minutes from ingestion.

The amino acid asparagine gets its name from asparagus, the asparagus plant being rich in this compound.

History-

Asparagus was first cultivated 2000 years ago in the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. The Greeks and Romans loved asparagus for its flavor, texture, and medicinal qualities. Roman emperors were so fond of asparagus that they kept special boats for the purpose of fetching it and called them the "Asparagus fleet". While the Greeks never seemed to garden asparagus, the Romans had specific directions on how to cultivate asparagus by 200 BC. They would eat the asparagus in season as well as preserve it for later consumption by transporting it to high altitudes where it would stay frozen. Asparagus gained popularity in France and England in the 16th Century and was then introduced to North America. Native Americans would dry the asparagus for later medicinal uses. Asparagus has also been depicted in ancient Egyptian writings and was also grown in Syria and Spain in ancient times.

Nutrition-

Asparagus is one of the more nutritionally valuable vegetables. It is the best vegetable provider of folic acid. Folic acid is necessary for blood cell formation and growth, as well as liver disease prevention. Folic acid is also important for pregnant women as it aids in the prevention of neural tube defects such as spina bifida in the developing fetus. Asparagus is also very low in calories; each stalk contains fewer than 4. It contains no fat or cholesterol, and is very low in sodium. Asparagus is a great source of potassium and fibre. Finally, the plant is a source of rutin, a compound that strengthens the walls of capillaries.

Popularity-

Green asparagus on sale in New York CityPeru is currently the world’s leading asparagus exporter, having overtaken other important producers such as China and the United States, and has gained worldwide recognition for the quality of its product.

The top exporters in 2004 by quantity were Peru (73,038 tons), Mexico (37,211 tons),and the United States (11,818 tons), according to Global Trade Atlas and U.S. Census Bureau statistics. Only Peru’s export market share has grown each year over the last several years.

The top asparagus importers in 2004, by quantity, were the United States (92,405 tons), followed by the European Union-25 (EU-25) (external trade) (18,565 tons), and Japan (17,148 tons), according to Global Trade Atlas and U.S. Census Bureau statistics. The United States imported more than four times the amount than the EU-25, the next largest importer.

The United States production for 2005 was on 54,000 acres and yielded 90,200 tons making it the world's largest producer and consumer when import quantities are factored in. Production was concentrated in California, Michigan & Washington states.

Importers in the United States import both green fresh asparagus and white fresh asparagus from Peru. While both green and white fresh asparagus from Peru are marketed in the United States, the color requirements of the current U.S. Standards for Grades of Fresh Asparagus only provide for the grading of green asparagus.

Other plants called asparagus-

Many related and unrelated plants may be called "asparagus" or said to be "used as asparagus" when eaten for their shoots. In particular, the shoots of a distantly related plant, Ornithogalum pyrenaicum, may be called "Prussian asparagus". See Category:Stem vegetables..