How to Prepare Asparagus

Asparagus is a tasty, versatile and healthful vegetable. However, some people shy away from cooking it because they simply don't know how to prepare asparagus. Follow these simple steps to help you prepare this delicious vegetable that provides 60 percent of your daily folic acid requirement.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Asparagus spears
• Sharp knife
• Vegetable peeler

1. Trim off the ends of the asparagus spears with a sharp knife. You want to make a cut where the white color of the asparagus spear meets the green color on the spear. Perform this step to remove the woody and fibrous ends of the asparagus spears.

2. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin from the asparagus spear. Peel off the outer layer of approximately the lower 3/4th of the asparagus spear, but leave the tip intact. This also makes it easier to eat and digest, and the asparagus looks prettier on the plate.

3. Feel the asparagus spear with your fingers to check for tenderness. Cut and peeled asparagus spears will feel tender to the touch.

4. Check out asparagus recipes online to find a variety of recipes for your prepared asparagus. The Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board also offers nutritional information, cooking tips and recipes.

Tips & Warnings

• Instead of cutting the asparagus spears with a knife, as in Step 1, you can break the spears instead. Using both hands, hold each asparagus spear by the ends and bend the spear until it snaps. The asparagus spear will automatically break at the right place so the woody end of the spear is removed.
• If the asparagus spears are very thin, you may not need to peel them with the vegetable peeler. Very thin asparagus spears are already very tender.

Resources

• Asparagus recipes
• Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board site with recipes and tips

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