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See also Articles: Asparagus; Herald of Spring
ASPARAGUS
Some individuals have odorous urine after eating asparagus, and it was long thought to be a genetic trait. The odor is cause by methyl mercaptan, and in fact, EVERYONE'S urine stinks after eating asparagus. It has been discovered that it is the ability to DETECT this odor that some people lack.
California grows more than 50,000 tons of asparagus each year, which is about 70% of all the asparagus grown in the United States.
Female asparagus stalks are plumper than male stalks.
It is the greener (or whiter) asparagus that are more tender, not the thin ones.
Asparagus is a member of the Lily family and is related to onions and garlic. The asparagus spears grow from a crown that is planted about a foot deep in sandy soils. The spears are usually not harvested until the 3rd or 4th year, to allow the crown to develop a strong root system. The plants will then produce spears for about 15 years. Under ideal conditions, an asparagus spear can grow 10" in a 24-hour period. Each crown will send spears up for about 6-7 weeks during the spring and early summer. How often spears may be picked depends on the temperature. Early in the season, spears may be picked every 4 days or so, and later as the average temperature warms up, they may have to be picked every day!
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