The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

Q: What’s the best way to store asparagus?
The best way to store asparagus is not to. As I said,
its flavor dramatically diminishes over time, so the
sooner you get it in the pan and into your belly, the
better. If you absolutely must store asparagus, treat
it like you would a bunch of flowers.* Trim the ends
and stand the stalks up in a cup or glass of water,
loosely cover the tips with a plastic bag to prevent
evaporation, and set the whole thing in the fridge.
Some people recommend adding salt or sugar to the
water, but I’ve never been able to detect any
difference in flavor if you do this. Don’t bother.