All Things Considered
Online journal by St. Jude's – British printmaking and textiles designed by printmaker Angie Lewin, painter printmaker Mark Hearld, British workwear designers Old Town and others.
Asparagus
Posted by Kate Sullivan
We’re now a week or so into the short, two month run of fresh asparagus and I’ve still not manage to eat any - which is ridiculous seeing as I have been counting the days till the season began for the past two months.
For me, asparagus signifies the start of the summer. I enjoy trying out different combinations of the lean green super-food but always find that simply simmered, buttered and seasoned is hard to beat.
Every year I notice more and more small farms selling the freshly cut spears around Norfolk. There is one asparagus field that I love watching as I pass every week. I’m always amazed that this field is pretty much unattended until early April, when suddenly it is tidied in readiness for the pending crop. At the beginning of May and seemingly overnight the crowns poke through and ascend rapidly.
Being a fan of this delicious and short seasoned vegetable, I winced with horror when I heard this week about a farm contractor who mistakenly ploughed the wrong field of rising asparagus instead of turning the soil of the adjacent field in preparation for strawberries, losing the grower about £10,000 in sales. Ouch.
Posted by Kate Sullivan on May 7th, 2007