Asparagus

'Tis the season for asparagus!

We tried to plant some asparagus plants last year, but they don't seem to have made it through the winter, so I guess we'll try again in a few weeks. Regardless, they wouldn't have been ready to harvest for another season or two.

Fortunately, I've seen some fairly low prices on it recently in the grocery store. Shane and I love it, but Sparky hasn't developed a taste for it. That means we can easily get a couple of meals out of a pound of it.

Lately, whenever I've seen a good price on it, I've bought a couple of pounds of it. I take out what we need for a meal, then freeze the rest.

The process is easy. I just bring some water to a boil. Meanwhile I snap off the woody ends from the bottom of the asparagus spears. When the water is at a full boil, I blanch the spears in the boiling water for about 30 seconds. Just long enough to halt the enzymes and bacteria that would cause the asparagus to spoil.


I drain the asparagus in a colander, run some cold water over it to stop the cooking process, drain them, then spread the spears out on a cookie sheet and flash freeze them. Finally, I take them off the cookie sheet and put them in a freezer-grade Ziploc bag.


That's all there is to it! When I'm ready to cook more, I just take out what I need and cook it (without thawing first) just like I would fresh asparagus.

This is a great, and inexpensive, way to have fresh-tasting asparagus beyond its season.