How To Freeze Fresh Asparagus

Asparagus is a kind of perennial plants that has delicious edible stems. It used to part of the Liliaceae family however it's now been decided that it is in a class of its own and that there are about 120 species in the Asparagaceae genus. Asparagus is considered to be a very upmarket food with it being sold in the top quality restaurants. However if you can learn how to grow it yourself you'll be able to eat like a King without the expense.

People have been grown asparagus for roughly 2500 years ago back in Greece. Actually, you might like to know that the word asparagus comes from a Greek word which means stalk. In addition to being a fantastic type of food, people have been using asparagus because of its medicinal qualities.

Some people are talking about how asparagus could even be used to cure cancer. Some reports have shown that it can be used to treat cancer of the bladder, lymph glands, skin and lung. Unfortunately we're unlikely to find out anytime soon if or how this is actually the case. Regardless of whether you are trying to cure cancer or not, asparagus is full of fantastic nutrients such as vitamin K, folic acid, folate, antioxidants plus it's supposed to be great as an antiviral and antifungal.

So if you've been growing your own asparagus or you've simply bought a lot of it whilst it's in season, you'll want to find out about how to preserve it for later whilst keeping all those nourishing properties in. One method you should look at is freezing. To do this you just cut off the tough bottoms that you don't want to eat. Then cut the stalks in half (across the middle). Give them a good thorough wash then add them to a pan of boiling water. The pan should be good and big and large enough for roughly a pound of asparagus. You don't want to cram the pot with too many stalks so make sure they can swim around the pan freely.

When you are boiling the asparagus you don't actually want to cook them so if you're doing small asparagus then you should leave it to boil for just a minute. If it's medium sized then use 2 minutes. However if it's large asparagus you should allow three minutes. You will notice that the asparagus turns a lovely green color but should remain hard.

Drain off all the water and then rinse the asparagus in cold water to stop them from cooking any further. Place the stalks into freezer bags and put the date on the bag so that you know how they've been there. Ideally you should use them within a year. Make sure you remove as much air from the bags as possible however the best option is to use a vacuum sealer.