Rather than taking a knife it to trim the ends off, all you need to do is bend each spear gently between your fingers until it snaps. There's a natural breaking point which will remove all the woody stem to leave you with only the tender vegetable.
As you can see from the photos and video below, this point can vary a lot between different stems, even from the same crop of asparagus, and it's hard to second-guess it by appearance. But by taking advantage of the natural breaking characteristics, you can make sure you don't get woody bits stuck between your teeth, without wasting any of the good stuff.
PS I did this deliberately slowly for the video, but in reality it's much faster.
8 comments:
I tried to do this when cooking for my family back in Sweden. The asparagus didn't snap. It was very embarrassing, since I had touted snapping as *the* way to trim asparagus. I later realised it must have to do with the freshness. Dehydrated asparagus doesn't snap! I'll have to make sure I snap one spear in secret next time, just to make sure my claims hold water -- even if the asparagus doesn't!
(BTW, I love your cooking-related post!)
Oh dear, I posted with the wrong ID! (This is Josephine, being very confused with the comment-function, following a not inconsiderable blogging hiatus!)
Now this is some of the best advice I've had in a long time. I love asparagus and make it for my family a couple times per week this time of year. I usually cut it with a scissor but I know I still get some of the woody part because it is unedible. Great idea Rachel, thanks!
Asparagus season is the best time of year. Love it.
Thanks for teaching me something new Rachel.
Yes, doesn't necessarily look as neat, but saves a nasty encounter between teeth and wood!
Good tip Rachel, I do that too, but it is always worth remembering that other people might not have.
Gteat trick, Rachel! Huge asparagus fan here, too!
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