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03 Jun 07
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The earliest asparagus recipes are about 2,500 years old, written in ancient Greek or Egyptian hieroglyphics. In the first century, Romans would take asparagus to the Alps and bury it in snow, so it could be enjoyed during the Feast of Epicurus in the fall.
A first harvest takes three years from the initial planting.
There's no difference in maturity or tenderness between fat and thin spears.
White asparagus results from heavy mulch laid over the plants, depriving them of light. The same plant can produce white or green spears.
In the Netherlands, the first harvesting coincides with Father's Day, when some restaurants offer all-asparagus menus and hand out asparagus-themed neckties.
It tastes best the day it's cut.
– from Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle -
One of the few perennial vegetables, an asparagus plant will keep growing every spring for 30 years or so.
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We've never been farther from our food. Our climate is good for growing pears. But, the average pear in the supermarket has travelled 6,000 kilometres, according to a recent Region of Waterloo Health study. The carrots you pick up: more than 3,900 kilometres.
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Despite living smack in the middle of the most temperate, moist, nutrient-rich farmland in the country, we in Southern Ontario fly and truck in as much as 80 per cent of our fresh fruit and vegetables – not because we can't grow it, but because we've decided its more convenient and practical to import.
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