How to trim and Prepare Asparagus
Our favorite winter and early spring veggie to have as a side dish is asparagus. I grew up eating it and learning how to trim and prepare asparagus from my mom. I think what she taught me was quick and easy and is the best way to make sure that you are eating the most tasty part of the asparagus spear.
What to look for when you buy asparagus from the store:
Usually you will notice that there are really skinny asparagus available and other times they are much more stocky. Either kind is fine. My husband prefers the skinny kind as they are a bit more intense flavor. I like either kind and prefer to mix it up and buy both.
You want to make sure that the asparagus you are buying is dry at the ends and that they aren’t mushy. Sometimes by the time we find them at the store, they have almost gone bad. You want to skip buying those. Along with watching that the ends aren’t mushy, the more closed the end buds are, the better they will be. When you look at the stock, see that they are plump and not shriveled up or dry looking. Sometimes they are a bit white too far up and you will have to trim off more than you should if they are old. It’s not worth it to get asparagus that day.
How to Trim and Prepare Asparagus
Wait to Wash Your Asparagus. When I get home with my produce, I tend to throw most items in the sink in a cold water soak with apple cider vinegar to clean off dirt and other residue. I don’t do this with the asparagus unless I am going to use them for that night. I will wait until the day I want to use them to wash them for a longer shelf life. I do make sure they are wrapped up in a plastic bag for best storage in the veggie crisper drawer.
Wash in cold water or with apple cider vinegar. When I want to use my asparagus, I will run them under cold water or soak in the apple cider cold water bath. Then I will trim them the way my mom taught me. No knife needed here, just hands. Since each spear of asparagus is different, there isn’t a magic length that needs to be trimmed off. Which is why cutting with a knife isn’t the best way to do it.
Simple Snaps to trim: I take one or two spears at a time and bend them in my hand near the bottom half. There seems to be a natural break point on each spear. Sometimes it is only about an inch, but sometimes it is several inches long. It depends on where the soft edible part meets the tough woody part. I don’t like to leave any of the woody part because it ruins the whole experience of eating asparagus in my opinion. If you haven’t ever experienced eating a tough chunk of asparagus, just know that it’s like a cow chewing its cud and it just never seems to go away.
So in simple steps:
- Grab a spear of asparagus.
- Using both hands, bend it over.
- Wait for the snap and that’s it!
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Once you have practice snapping asparagus this way, it goes real quick and you will be able to hold several pieces at a time and snap off the ends of each one quickly.
So now that you have snapped off the bottom of the asparagus, toss the bottoms to the chickens or compost or wherever your veggie scraps go. Then eat the rest of the top. Most people’s favorite part is the very tip. Except for a friend we had over for dinner one night. He left all the tips on his plate!
Cooking asparagus is simple. We like to prepare our asparagus simply by laying out on a quarter sheet pan. These USA sheet pans are our all time favorite. I then drizzle with a little olive oil and simply sprinkle with course salt and pepper. Sometimes I add garlic or garlic powder/salt, but mostly just keep it simple.
This sure makes me excited to see what our spring garden brings for asparagus in a few months.
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