How To Choose, Buy, Store And Cook Asparagus To Maximize Its Benefits

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How To Choose, Buy, Store And Cook Asparagus To Maximize Its Benefits

Native to the Mediterranean region, asparagus is now cultivated worldwide. Here, we discuss some tips on choosing, buying, storing and cooking asparagus.


Choosing and Buying Asparagus

The edible part of this spring vegetable is its young sprouts or shoots. Its tips are actually small flowers. Due to their short season and amount of work required for harvesting, asparagus spears are often more costly than other vegetables.

When choosing and purchasing asparagus, make sure its tips are compact and tightly furled or closed – this suggests freshness. Loose and frayed tips indicate that the vegetable is getting old. The best quality asparagus is firm.

Broadly speaking, the darker the stalk, the more nutrient-dense the asparagus is.


Storing Asparagus

Asparagus loses its flavor and much of its nutrient content if not consumed a day or two after purchase. For example, the folate in asparagus is easily damaged by air, light or heat exposure. Thus, asparagus needs to be carefully stored.

To help keep the vegetable fresh, it can be kept in the refrigerator with its ends wrapped in a damp paper towel. Another possibility is to store the vegetable at the back of the refrigerator or in a produce drawer.


Cooking Asparagus

The entire vegetable can be eaten although the tough and woody stalk is usually discarded. Simply bending a stalk of asparagus would usually cause it to break at the point where the tough and tender parts meet.

After trimming and cooking, asparagus loses close to half of its total weight.

One USDA survey found that boiled asparagus had “significantly lower” amounts of water-soluble antioxidants as compared to raw asparagus, with about a quarter of its total antioxidant capacity of 2,021 units per serving lost through cooking.

Because most of asparagus’ nutrients are in its tips, while cooking it on the stove, it’s advisable to cook it upright in a tall container than at the bottom of a baking dish. Add a few inches of water to the pot but be sure to keep the asparagus tips above the water surface. Cover the pot with a lid and then bring the water to a simmer. Vigorous boiling is not necessary for cooking this tender vegetable. These are the tips of Gertrude Armbruster, a professor emeritus of nutritional science.


Safety and Caution

There are low amounts of oxalate in asparagus, and persons with a history of oxalate-containing kidney stones should not eat too much of this vegetable.

Asparagus also has a moderate amount of purines, so persons with gout also should limit the amount of this vegetable they consume.


References

Collins, Elise Marie. An A-Z Guide to Healing Foods: A Shopper’s Companion. San Francisco, California: Conari Press, 2009. Print.

Pitchford, Paul. Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition. 3rd ed. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 2002. Print.

Haas, Elson M., MD, and Levin, Buck, PhD, RD. Staying Healthy With Nutrition: The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine. New York, NY: Celestial Arts, 2006. Print.

Yeager, Selene, et al. The Doctors Book of Food Remedies. New York, NY: Rodale, 2007. Print.

Murray, Michael, ND., Pizzorno, Joseph, ND., and Pizzorno, Lara, MA, LMT. The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods. New York, NY: Atria Books, 2005. Print.

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