Fresh Asparagus Salad

Spring is here, and that means asparagus has sprouted.  

Asparagus grows in patches, either cultivated or in the wild. Wild asparagus grows all along I-94 in SW Michigan. It does take a couple of years for an asparagus patch to reach the state of producing these succulent stalks, but it’s well worth it! There’s white, purple, and green. You can purchase it year-round, but the best asparagus is during the spring.  

The health benefits of asparagus are astronomical! Asparagus essential oils have many health benefits. Pennyroyal is the main essential oil found in asparagus and is known to aid in digestion, as well as being considered an antiseptic and decongestant. When purchasing asparagus, look for the top to be completely full with small buds, and for it to be firm, not droopy or limp. The fresher the asparagus, the better.

In this salad, it’s all about the asparagus.  

During spring, asparagus is at its most flavorful, so I recommend leaving the not-in-season asparagus for another recipe. My favorite asparagus is the green variety. I like medium size, especially for this salad, because we are blanching it, so the stalk needs to have some structure. Blanching is a method of cooking, where you cook the food in boiling water for a short period of time, then immediately place the food into an ice bath so the cooking stops. Blanching not only helps retain the color of the asparagus but also helps enhance its texture and retains many of its nutrients by reducing the amount of time the asparagus is exposed to heat.

I would recommend adding grilled shrimp to this delicious spring salad, or some toasted nuts to add some protein, making this a well-balanced meal.

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1. _{SHAHRAJABIAN, M. H., & SUN, W. (2022). Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) and pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium L.), impressive advantages with wondrous health-beneficial phytochemicals. Notulae Scientia Biologicae, 14(2), 11212. https://doi.org/10.55779/nsb14211212}