ALL ABOUT ASPARAGUS

You may be wondering why asparagus gets its

own gigantic sidebar all to itself. It’s because (a) I
really love it and (b) among the vegetables that are
always available from the supermarket, there are
very few that show as drastic a difference in flavor
between the imported year-round stuff and the fresh-
from-the-earth spring variety. Asparagus contains a
lot of sugar at the moment of harvest, but as it sits
around waiting to be cooked, this sugar quite rapidly
begins to form starch molecules, turning tender,
sweet stalks bland and starchy.

Q: How do I pick the best asparagus at the market?
Whether you choose bright green spears, mild white
stalks (which are grown underground to prevent