Gawd!

Well, this is one of the most puzzling posts I have ever seen . . .

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Bill
Flagler Beach, FL 32136

Carpe Vino!

Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire.
— David Rains Wallace

Reminds me of the Billy Crystal -as- Sammy Davis Jr. on Password bit, on SNL a few years ago. The category is "food" and the Password is...Asparagus:

"It's like a long shaft, with a tip on the end.....WE'LL PASS ON THIS ONE."

Sprayed with a little virgin olive oil, dusted with some fresh cracked black pepper, a very light dusting of sea salt-
Grill until the bright green color shows-
Gooood!

Or wrapped in prosciutto! Yum.

Or asparagus tempura, with wasabi mayonnaise drizzled over it. man, that's good stuff.

That was a great SNL.

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3GHz - The clock is STILL ticking Steve.

I'll take asparagus before Brussels sprouts any day. Sometimes even before broccoli.

Does your pee smell?

olive oil, salt and rosemary, mmmmmmmmmmmm

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!#$@@$#!

proofraed by OwEn the c@t.



Nobody remembers their first download, but everyone remembers their 1st LP.

So is there any way to keep from getting stinky asparagus wizz?

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Don't ask who the bell's for, dude. It's you.

Sure--either don't eat the stuff or consume great quantities of garlic with it-- you'll never notice the "asparagus effect".

[en.wikipedia.org]

Asparagus

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Genus: Asparagus
Species: A. officinalis

Asparagus is a type of vegetable obtained from one species within the genus Asparagus, specifically the young shoots of Asparagus officinalis. It has been used from very early times as a culinary vegetable, owing to its delicate flavour and diuretic properties. There is a recipe for cooking asparagus in the oldest surviving book of recipes, Apicius's 3rd century CE De re coquinaria, Book III.

White asparagus is cultivated by denying the plants light while they are being grown. They are vegetables.

The English word "asparagus" derives from classical Latin, but the plant was once known in English as sperage, from the Medieval Latin sparagus. This term itself derives from the Greek aspharagos or asparagos, and the Greek term originates from the Persian asparag, meaning "sprout" or "shoot." The original Latin name has now supplanted the English word. Asparagus was also corrupted in some places to "sparrow grass"; indeed, John Walker stated in 1791 that "Sparrow-grass is so general that asparagus has an air of stiffness and pedantry."

In their simplest form, the shoots are boiled or steamed until tender and served with a light sauce like hollandaise or melted butter or a drizzle of olive oil with a dusting of Parmesan cheese. A refinement is to tie the shoots into sheaves and stand them so that the lower part of the stalks are boiled, while the more tender heads are steamed. Tall cylindrical asparagus cooking pots have liners with handles and perforated bases to make this process foolproof.

Unlike most vegetables, where the smaller and thinner are the more tender, thick asparagus stalks have more tender volume to the proportion of skin. When asparagus have been too long in the market, the cut ends will have dried and gone slightly concave. The best asparagus are picked and washed while the water comes to the boil. Fastidious cooks scrape asparagus stalks with a vegetable peeler, stroking away from the head, and refresh them in ice-cold water before steaming them; the peel is often added back to the cooking water and removed only after the asparagus is done, this is supposed to prevent diluting the flavor. Small or full-sized stalks can be made into asparagus soup. Cantonese restaurants in the United States often serve asparagus stir-fried with chicken, shrimp, or beef. Asparagus is one of few foods which is considered acceptable to eat with the hands in polite company, although this is more common in Europe.

Some of the constituents of asparagus are metabolised and excreted in the urine, giving it a distinctive, mildly unpleasant odor. The smell is caused by various sulfur-containing degradation products (e.g. thiols and thioesters). Studies showed that about 40% of the test subjects displayed this characteristic smell; and a similar percentage of people are able to smell the odor once it is produced. There does not seem to be any correlation between peoples' production and detection of the smell.

The amino acid asparagine gets its name from asparagus, the asparagus plant being rich in this compound.

History

Asparagus was first cultivated 2000 years ago in the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. The Greeks and Romans loved asparagus for its flavor, texture, and medicinal qualities. Roman emperors were so fond of asparagus that they kept special boats for the purpose of fetching it and called them the "Asparagus fleet". While the Greeks never seemed to garden asparagus, the Romans had specific directions on how to cultivate asparagus by 200 BC. They would eat the asparagus in season as well as preserve it for later consumption by freezing. Asparagus gained popularity in France and England in the 16th Century and was then introduced to North America. Native Americans would dry the asparagus for later medicinal uses. Asparagus has also been depicted in ancient Egyptian writings and was also grown in Syria and Spain in ancient times.

Nutrition

Asparagus is one of the more nutritionally valuable vegetables. It is the best vegetable provider of folic acid. Folic acid is necessary for blood cell formation and growth, as well as liver disease prevention. Folic acid is also important for pregnant women as it aids in the prevention of neural tube defects such as spina bifida in the developing fetus. Asparagus is also very low in calories; each stalk contains less than 4. It contains no fat or cholesterol, and is very low in sodium. Asparagus is a great source of potassium and fiber. Finally, the plant is a source of rutin, a compound that strengthens the walls of capillaries.

Popularity

Peru is currently the world’s leading asparagus exporter, having overtaken other important producers such as China and the United States, and has gained worldwide recognition for the quality of its product.

The top exporters in 2004 by quantity were Peru (73,038 tons), Mexico (37,211 tons),and the United States (11,818 tons), according to Global Trade Atlas and U.S. Census Bureau statistics. Only Peru’s export market share has grown each year over the last several years.

The top asparagus importers in 2004, by quantity, were the United States (92,405 tons), followed by the European Union-25 (EU-25) (external trade) (18,565 tons), and Japan (17,148 tons), according to Global Trade Atlas and U.S. Census Bureau statistics. The United States imported more than four times the amount than the EU-25, the next largest importer.

Importers in the United States import both green fresh asparagus and white fresh asparagus from Peru. While both green and white fresh asparagus from Peru are marketed in the United States, the color requirements of the current U.S. Standards for Grades of Fresh Asparagus only provide for the grading of green asparagus.



YUM!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2006 11:14PM by Baby Tats.

Quote
Baby Tats
Some of the constituents of asparagus are metabolised and excreted in the urine, giving it a distinctive, mildly unpleasant odor. The smell is caused by various sulfur-containing degradation products (e.g. thiols and thioesters). Studies showed that about 40% of the test subjects displayed this characteristic smell; and a similar percentage of people are able to smell the odor once it is produced. There does not seem to be any correlation between peoples' production and detection of the smell.

Well.

Don't I feel lucky.

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Don't ask who the bell's for, dude. It's you.

Good stuff, it makes frequent appearances on my grill.

asparagus pee? On your grill? Why don't you just turn the gas valve off like the rest of us?

Charcoal, that's why.

Many a debate froshmen year on my coed floor equipped with coed bathrooms arose after asparagus was served in the DC. It took us half the year to figure out that not everyone's piss stunk and not everyone could smell the stinky piss even if it did stink. Apparently asians are particularly sensitive to the smell and many of them don't emit it in their urine. We men we constantly being lambasted for not flushing the toilets after we urinated on a regular basis, but we were damn close to getting expelled after asparagus night if we didn't flush.

Ahhh, the joys of Berkeley.

BT

Bezerkley, the school, that forgot it was.

Brussel sprouts are the preferred choice here. Spent 3 years raising asparagus (it has a 2 year budding cycle) then plowed it under.

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"Who's more foolish - the fool or the fool that follows him?" - Obi Wan Kenobi



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/2006 04:05AM by RgrF.

Fresh Brussel sprouts are awesome.

Remove loose leaves. Toss with a bit of EVOO, salt and pepper, spread on a cookie sheet (on Reynolds Release foil, which is great stuff...) Then into an oven at 425 degF for about 15-20 minutes until tender.

The outside will be a bit crunchy and the inside will be soft. Like a Brussel sprout french fry.

Many veggies are great this way. Asparagus, carrots, new potatos, parsnips, green beans... Yum!

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Don't ask who the bell's for, dude. It's you.

My parents would serve asparagus just about every day when it was in season locally. Most of us became addicted but my older sister ended up hating asparagus and still does today.

I love brussel sprouts and broccoli as well. It's nice that some things that are good for you are so delicious.

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