asparagus - Building your pantry

If you have the opportunity to plant asparagus, do it! Watching them grow is quite entertaining. They shoot up proudly from the ground one at a time and can grow as much as 10 inches in a day!

Asparagus makes your pee stink, but its greater claim to fame is its long history in Asian medicine. In Ayurvedic tradition, an Indian variety of asparagus is considered tri-doshic, meaning it is uniformly good for everyone. The Indian name for this plant, shatavari, means “she who possesses a hundred husbands;” shat- avari is considered to be the primary root for strengthening the female hormones, relieving menstrual cramps, and increasing lactation. In Chinese medicine, asparagus is understood to expel toxins and cool the body. In Western (alternative) medicine, asparagus is being studied for its anti-cancer activity as well as its action in dissolving kidney stones.

Eat asparagus raw or cooked in just about anything. Look for bright green spears with compact tips. Store in the fridge with a moist paper towel loosely wrapped around the stems or stand them upright in a few inches of water with a little baggie over them to retain moisture. Eat them quickly, as they don’t like to be out of the ground for too long.

A Nourish Me recipes that features asparagus in the ingredients:

Asian Soba Salad with Asparagus and Basil - pages 668 - 669

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