Wild asparagus: The first catch, the first meal (from nature to table)
Time to pick up some first wild asparagus this season.
It's not rainy anymore and weather is nice, so my dog and I decided to visit exactly the same spot where we located few spears of wild asparagus that just broke through the ground. If you missed my post from two days ago, about wild asparagus and all I know about it, and if you, in some case, want to read that post, click here.
So, I explained about territory of wild asparagus, about bushes and karst. And how it's bush looks like. A spear grows under and around the bush. We eat only the head of the spear and few centimeters below.
And here it is! Acutifolius asparagus!
Let's remember the bush and how it looks:
It is very early season, it is little bit unusual to have some of them already. So I didn't expect to find much.
When you look for will asparagus, you must examine the bush very carefully. When you find one wild asparagus, you must stick around, you'll probably find few more around. In many cases, you will find more than one under one bush.
I made some GIF-s while I was picking them.
If you don't look carefully, you can easily miss it in the grass or bush.
As I said, I didn't expect much, so, when I picked up these, I went home. It will be on the menu tomorrow. That's why I keep them in a glass with water, so they can stay more fresh than in fridge.
As I mentioned in my post from two days ago, wild asparagus can be prepared on many ways it has strong and intense smell and taste, but if you cook it, be sure to use the water from cooking. Some people water their plants and flowers with the water that was precooked with asparagus. Or you can drink that water, it will clean and detoxify your urinating system.
You can't keep picked asparagus more than few days, they will wither.
Warning
When the first asparagus starts to come out, something else also will show up! Something bad! Ticks! Beware of the ticks because they are everywhere!
Ticks are small arachnids that live mostly as parasites and feeding with blood of animals and humans. Ticks that live here in Dalmatia are tiny and their sting is not strong as somewhere else in the world, but they can easily hide into your clothes and attach to your skin. Or they can do a lot of damage to your dog when they lay their eggs inside dog's skin. That's why we need to protect ourselves. After picking of wild asparagus, you need to examine your whole body and your dog's body. Don't forget to protect your dog with proper repellent against ticks, flies and other parasites!
The simplest meal
The simplest meal of wild asparagus is with cooked eggs. If you like cooked eggs and asparagus, keep reading!
Preparation time: 15 minutes
First you need to wash and clean your spears of asparagus. As I said, we eat only the head of the spear and few centimeters below the head, so you have to cut the lower parts as you can see on this photo:
For this amount of wild asparagus, we need two eggs. These are domestic eggs of my grandma's hens. This is not large amount of asparagus, so this will be served as salad or a side dish with some main meal (meat or fish).
Then, put them (asparagus and eggs) in the pot with some salted water and let it boil for 15 minutes.
When it's done, strain the asparagus, remove the eggshell, and smash cooked eggs over the asparagus. You'll maybe need more salt for eggs. Add some olive oil and it's done:
I love asparagus and had no idea we could find it growing wild. Thanks for the post!
Gotta love Asparagus!
First, there was a wild asparagus. From it, humans developed a domestic one. They are different. Wild has much more taste and smell. and it's much thinner than domestic one. Here, in Mediterranean wild asparagus is much more popular than domestic! thanks for the comment!
Excellent tasty treats from the wild!
Thank you, it was very tasty;)
It's neat to see "the other asparagus", lol. Your species is so much thinner than the Asparagus officianalis that grows wild in North America. It would be interesting to taste yours! This thin species would definitely require a closer inspection of the grass that it's hiding in! They look almost as thin as my hops shoots, lol, which are also good with eggs. Enjoy your asparagus and watch out for those ticks!
Upvoted by @foraging-trail
Thank you for following and upvoting @foraging-trail
You can find out more about the Steemit Foraging community and guidelines for being upvoted by the @foraging-trail here and here. Join us In the Foraging-Trail and let's discuss Foraging Related Topics