Asparagus Again

Who knew? Did you know that asparagus is part of the fern family? Did you know it keeps growing after it's cut? Did you know it can grow 6-10 inches a day??? I stumbled across this information on the Delicious Days blog. (If I would have thought of that, I definitely would have used that as my blog title. Love alliteration!) Their article on asparagus (and where is the appropriate place to trim it) has lots of fascinating info, such as below:

"Most of the loss of sweetness and toughening happens in the first day after harvest. Farmers can minimize it by chilling new-cut asparagus right away. But a delay of just four hours between harvest and chilling causes the spears to toughen significantly. So does allowing the chilled spears to warm up to 60 degrees or more in a grocery display or at the farmers’ market."

Enjoy!

*Ok, I just re-read my posting, and I realize that this is a pretty dorky thing to find fascinating, but I know some of you out there are just dorky enough to appreciate it :-)