Its the end of asparagus season here in south-central Montana, but you can still get your moneys worth. Just keep an eye out for telltale fronds by the roadside.
But lucky me, I just drove a couple of miles to a friends ranch, and we took off in her "mule" to hunt wild asparagus that is a little easier to wrangle than that stuff by the road.
We walked a lot because neighbors had already been through and picked the obvious plants, but there was still plenty to gather. I came home with 2 pounds plus another 2 pounds from my friend Christy, who said she was getting sick of asparagus. Go figure.
In some ways, its easier to find asparagus at the end of the season than at the beginning because all you have to do is look for tall brown fronds. Somewhere beneath those dead branches is the root stock and new spears may be emerging even now.
Green bushy fronds are easy to spot, too, and pretty.
In any case, you might find only one spear, but it could be a beaut.
By the way, thick spears are supposed to be tastier than thin ones. I usually nibble on the tiny ones as I go and they taste fine to me.
Pretty soon, I had enough for at least one meal, maybe two, and most likely Ill have enough to make soup and freeze it for later. Heres a photo of my 2 pounds.
It was a nice day for walking and gathering. Much more fun than going to the store.
I searched online to get some more information and found Alton Browns Good Eats episode, "The Age of Asparagus," where I learned you should store asparagus straight up in a glass container with about 1 inch of water in the bottom.
Hahaha!
Excuse while I chuckle heartily. Everyone I know who gathers wild asparagus either eats it immediately, or tucks it away in the bottom of the refrigerator in the plastic bag they gathered it into. In my experience, it should be okay like that for a week.
And Alton has some scientific theories about how much to trim off the bottom before cooking. Well, if you have wild asparagus, you just use whatever looks edible, which is most of it.
But I did learn from Alton that asparagus tastes best cooked and that nutmeg has a taste component in it that magnifies taste components in asparagus, so be sure to always add a pinch of nutmeg.
Asparagus has all sorts of good nutrients in it, but I was most impressed to find it is chock-full of folate, which helps your body keep a healthy heart and avoid cancer.
Roasted Asparagus
Easy! Place asparagus spears on a sheet of foil on a pan. Drizzle olive oil over all. Place in a 500-degree oven for 5 minutes. Take out and turn asparagus over. Return to oven for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and a dash of nutmeg.
I am not being very faithful to this blog lately, and I apologize to anyone who is checking to see if I can be trusted to post something more than once a week. Thank you for hanging in there with me while I organize myself and arrange interviews with Montana people who are producing our food. And wait for the road to clear so I can actually drive somewhere.
My goal for this blog is to share what other people are eating and producing in Montana. There will definitely be more about farmers markets as the 2010 season opens, but right now I am frustrated by being stuck at home in snow. I dont venture out much when the roads are icy.
