Asparagus a treat when cooked right
Asparagus is a quick and healthy spring veggie
Date published: 4/5/2009
ASPARAGUS, the first vegetable of spring, is also one of the most healthful.
Prepared tenderly, asparagus is a delicacy. But overcooked, like any green vegetable, it can become slimy. Many people who think they hate asparagus actually have never had it properly prepared. Learn ways to relish asparagus, and you can get the full benefit of its vitamins and antioxidants.
The ancient Greeks, Romans and Arabs all wrote about feasting on asparagus and believed it was an aphrodisiac, especially for men, because of its shape. Traditional Indian medicine, or Ayurveda, claims asparagus also helps balance women's hormones.
While asparagus' links to fertility and virility haven't been studied by modern scientists, you could argue that any delicious meal can set a romantic mood.
Ancients and moderns alike agree that asparagus is healthy.
HEALTH POWERHOUSE
A half-cup of steamed asparagus has only 20 calories but supplies more than 50 percent of your daily needs for vitamin K, which is important for healthy blood and strong bones.
It also supplies more than one-third of the daily needs for folate, a B vitamin that helps prevent birth defects and anemia and may affect mood.
Asparagus is also a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamine and fiber. Plus, it's high in potassium and low in sodium, so it's great for people with high blood pressure.
The first spears of asparagus appear at Virginia farm stands in early to mid-April. Vitamin C is particularly sensitive to storage, so local asparagus, which makes it to your table faster than that trucked from across the country, is better.
If you buy asparagus now, in season, it is affordable. The rest of the year, asparagus can be a luxury item--unless you grow it yourself.
If you enjoy gardening, one of the most famous varieties of asparagus is Mary Washington, named for the Founding Father's mother here in Fredericksburg.
Asparagus is a perennial vegetable, meaning it comes back every year. If you plant it, you harvest some of the first shoots or spears in springtime and allow other spears to grow into a ferny plant. The fern leaves nourish the root, so it can produce more spears each spring.
CHOOSING THE BEST
Jennifer Motl is a registered dietitian. Formerly of Fredericksburg, she now lives in Wisconsin. |
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Date published: 4/5/2009
Most recent reader comments:
asparagus vitamin
(posted by
organicfood
, Apr. 8, 2009 7:34 am)  
asparagus vitamin supplements work very well in the digestive systems and is a good source of vitamin k
www.1wallmart.com/vitamins-supplements.php
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