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The bright green spears of asparagus now appearing in local grocery stores are one of the first signs of spring.

Asparagus are members of the Liliaceae family, so they are related to day lilies. There are white and purple varieties, but in the U.S., it is green that dominates the marketplace.

The Romans were cultivating asparagus as early as 200 B.C., for both culinary and medicinal purposes. In fact, the botanical name is asparagus officinalis, with officinalis meaning “of the dispensary.” Asparagus came to this continent with the colonists, but did not become a commercial crop of any importance until after the 1850s. Today, California produces about 116 million pounds of asparagus every year, which is about three-quarters of the domestic crop; Washington and Michigan provide most of the rest.

The nutritional benefits of asparagus include vitamins A and C, calcium, potassium, iron, folic acid and the blood vessel strengthener rutin. Five spears have about 25 calories, with 4 grams of carbohydrates — 2 of them dietary fiber and 2 of them sugars. Those same spears also give you 2 grams of protein and no fat.

I was taught to select spears by girth, avoiding the thicker ones because that was a sign they were picked when past their prime. However, the California Asparagus Commission Web site begs to differ: “Some people think that jumbo asparagus is old asparagus and is left in the field to get old or fat. Asparagus is harvested every day during the season — the larger sized asparagus comes from younger, more vigorous plants as a rule, while the smaller sized asparagus comes from older plants that have been planted closer together. Swiss and German folks are noted for prizing the jumbo-sized asparagus!”

So, ignore the size but look for tenderness. Of course, you will have some woodiness toward the bottom, but most of the stalk should be supple when you gently bend it. The skin of the spear should be wrinkle-free, and the heads should be tightly closed.

When you get it home, store asparagus with the bottoms wrapped in a damp paper towel, or in a plastic bag, in the crisper or coldest part of the fridge. This vegetable deteriorates markedly every day, so eat it as soon as you can.

Fresh spears can be steamed, boiled, grilled or oven roasted. Steam by placing them in a single layer in your steamer, cooking for about 4 minutes. If you prefer tossing them in boiling water, don’t leave them in there for more than about three minutes after the water returns to a boil — and save the nutritious water for soup. Grilling works best if you roll the spears about on a plate with a tablespoon of olive oil on it, and then put them on a hot grill or under a broiler. Frankly, unless you have a basket designed to prevent small vegetables from falling through the grill openings, using a broiler is easier.

My favorite cooking technique is roasting.

Drizzle pieces or whole spears with a bit of olive oil and roast at 500 degrees for five minutes, then toss them around in the pan and roast for another five minutes. They turn dark and nutty tasting. I serve them plain or topped with shaved Parmesan cheese or sesame seeds.

No matter which cooking method you use, be sure to break off the fibrous ends. Simply grab at a spear at both ends and gently bend — the stalks will break at the point where they have turned woody.

How to grow asparagus

As one article I read stated asparagus and corn are similar in that both of these vegetable taste best when they are cooked and consumed within minutes after picking. That obviously requires growing your own, which is not hard but does mean delayed gratification.

I learned how to raise asparagus from Ed Bostrom, who used to own North Pole Acres farm and sold asparagus at the Tanana Valley Farmers Market. He evidently became so weary of giving tutorials on how to raise asparagus that he finally just wrote out the directions.

While he decamped Fairbanks a few years ago, his instructions are still being passed around among the small but rabid local asparagus growers cult; some time ago he gave me permission to shamelessly steal from his handout, so the credit for what you are about to read belongs to him.

Raising asparagus from seeds is an exercise in frustration, and if you are not an experienced gardener, you should buy crowns at one of our local nurseries. Just don’t get them too early — while you can set asparagus transplants into the ground any time during June or July, you have to wait until the soil temperature (NOT the air temperature) is up to 50 degrees.

Establish your plot in a sunny area, paying attention to ensure that there are no nearby trees. Since asparagus plants can keep going for 15 years, and don’t take well to being moved, you want to be sure that today’s sunny spot still will be sunny in 10 years. You’ll need enough space to plant the crowns a foot to 18 inches apart, in rows that are four feet away from each other.

You want the soil as nutritious and well-worked as possible. Asparagus need good drainage, so if your soil is compacted amend it with compost or aged manure. Next, dig individual holes or a long trench, making it deep enough so that the transplants can be set in to about the same depth as they were in their pots. (Ignore gardening books written for Outside conditions when they tell you to set your plants a foot or more into the ground. Our soil is too cold for that.)

If you have more compost around, work another handful in right where you are going to put a plant. Then add a tablespoon of 8-32-16 fertilizer and another of 0-45-0. The second tablespoon is triple super phosphate; unlike straight nitrogen, this will not harm or burn the roots. Alternately, you can do use a natural organic fertilizer high in phosphorous, such as a 5-10-5, and a handful of bone meal and rock phosphate for the triple super phosphate.

The first and second years of asparagus growing are an exercise in patience, offering no immediate rewards for the initial planting, the deep watering required all season, and the nitrogen-rich fertilizer you must apply again by mid-July. After all that, you should not harvest any of the spears, or the foliage they turn into, and you must watch them die as the frosts begin.

Then you need to ensure sufficient insulation to protect the plants from the killing effects of the freeze-thaw-refreeze cycle that happens many winters. In years when it gets frigid before very much snow falls, I have used straw as mulch; when it does snow, I usually push even more snow onto the asparagus patch. Compost or brown leaves also make good mulches and do not attract the voles as much as straw.

The third season, which will be spring of 2010 if you begin this summer, start by feeding the asparagus plot with a high-phosphorous fertilizer.

Fishmeal is a good organic choice that is high in phosphorous. During the summer of 2010, you will get what Bostrom called “harvestable-sized” spears, but stop harvesting after two weeks so that the remaining spears can turn into ferns. Don’t ignore this rule, as fern feeding of the roots is critical for sustained growth. Harvest by breaking the spears off with your hand as close to the ground as they snap easily — don’t cut them off below ground.

When the spears have ferned out, feed with high nitrogen fertilizer or rich compost mulch … do not remove the ferns. In subsequent years, follow these same procedures, although you can double your harvest period. When remaining spears begin to decrease in size, let them grow into ferns, feed and let them die out.

One final thing, and for this I quote directly from the book by Ann D. Roberts, Alaska Gardening Guide. “The sexes are separate on asparagus plants. Female plants have a lower survival rate and lower yields than male plants, so if you want a really productive bed, remove all female plants … Asparagus flowers look like tiny yellowish-green bells … Female flowers have six poorly developed stamens and a well-developed pistil with three lobes. The plant later produces berries. The male flower is larger and longer, with six well-developed stamens and a rudimentary pistil.”

Better yet, select Jersey Knight super males when buying crowns for transplanting, as this variety is a high producer and the male plants do not put energy into seed production so will produce larger spears.

(Thanks to Michele Hebert, of the Alaska Cooperative Extension, for proofing and adding to the how to grow it section of this article).

FRESH ASPARAGUS AND SMOKED SALMON SANDWICH

8 ounces cream cheese (light or regular), softened

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground coarse black pepper or to taste

24 large asparagus spears, trimmed

6 oblong sandwich rolls, lightly toasted

12 ounces thinly sliced smoked salmon

1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced, separated into rings

Thoroughly mix cream cheese, lemon zest and black pepper. Reserve. Put asparagus into a large skillet of boiling, salted water. Return to a boil; boil until tender-crisp, about 3 minutes. Drain well; spread on paper towel to cool. To assemble sandwiches, spread 1 generous tablespoon of reserved cream cheese mixture on sliced rolls. Divide salmon in 6 portions.

Layer onion rings on bottom of roll, then 1 portion salmon and 4 asparagus spears, interspersing asparagus between slices of salmon.

Cover sandwiches with tops; cut in half at a diagonal.

(Used with permission of the California Asparagus Commission)

CRISPY ASPARAGUS STRAWS

(You can prepare ahead of time and bake just before serving. An option is to add a slice of prosciutto when you roll the asparagus up in the dough.)

36 asparagus spears

4 sheets of phyllo dough, thawed

4 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 cup butter, melted

Salt and pepper to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Trim ends of asparagus. Blanche asparagus in boiling salted water until lightly tender to the bite, about 3 minutes. Place one sheet of phyllo on a cutting board. Set aside the remaining sheets, cover with a damp towel. Brush the phyllo sheet with melted butter. Cut the sheet into nine rectangles, two cuts down from the top, and two cuts across. Place an asparagus spear at the bottom of the short side of the rectangle with the tip sticking out from the dough by 2 inches. Sprinkle on a teaspoon of cheese. Roll up spear and seal with butter. Finish with remaining spears. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Sprinkle with remaining cheese, salt and pepper. Cover the exposed asparagus tips with foil. Bake until golden brown and crispy 10 to 12 minutes. Serve warm.

(Used with permission of the California Asparagus Commission)

ASPARAGUS CASSEROLE BAKE

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound asparagus

2 tablespoons butter

1 small onion

3 cloves minced garlic

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

1/2 cup diced red bell pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients into a 2 quart casserole and cover. Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Stir and bake another 20 minutes. Serve.

(Used with permission of the California Asparagus Commission)

ASPARAGUS PESTO

1 1/4 cups tender asparagus pieces

3 cloves garlic

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup olive oil

Process in a food processor, adding the oil toward the end when the rest of the ingredients have blended. Serve as you would basil pesto, on hot pasta or crackers or as a topping for baked potatoes.

Linden Staciokas has gardened in the Interior for more than two decades. Send gardening questions to her at dorking@acsalaska.net.