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Asparagus

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Food and agriculture

                  iAsparagus
           Scientific classification

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

                                Binomial name

   Asparagus officinalis
   L.

   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 and
   increasing the amount of ultraviolet light exposed to the plants while
   they are being grown.

   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." It
   is commonly known in fruit retail circles as "Sparrows Guts",
   etymologically distinct from the old term "sparrow grass" showing
   convergent language evolution.

   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.
   Meticulous 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.
   White asparagus (left) and green asparagus (right)
   Enlarge
   White asparagus (left) and green asparagus (right)

   Some of the constituents of asparagus are metabolised and excreted in
   the urine, giving it a distinctive, mildly unpleasant odour. 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 odour once it is produced. There does
   not seem to be any correlation between peoples' production and
   detection of the smell. The speed of onset of urine smell is rapid, and
   has been estimated to occur within 15-30 minutes from ingestion.

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

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 fewer than 4. It contains no fat or cholesterol, and is very
   low in sodium. Asparagus is a great source of potassium and fibre.
   Finally, the plant is a source of rutin, a compound that strengthens
   the walls of capillaries.

Popularity

   Green asparagus on sale in New York City
   Enlarge
   Green asparagus on sale in New York City

   Peru is currently the world’s leading asparagus exporter, followed by
   China and then Mexico -

   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.

   The United States production for 2005 was on 54,000 acres and yielded
   90,200 tons making it the world's largest producer and consumer when
   import quantities are factored in. Production was concentrated in
   California, Michigan & Washington states.

   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 colour
   requirements of the current U.S. Standards for Grades of Fresh
   Asparagus only provide for the grading of green asparagus.

Other plants called asparagus

   Many related and unrelated plants may be called "asparagus" or said to
   be "used as asparagus" when eaten for their shoots. In particular, the
   shoots of a distantly related plant, Ornithogalum pyrenaicum, may be
   called "Prussian asparagus". See Category:Stem vegetables.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagus"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
