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Stringy asparagus ends; an experiment.

submitted by WillisJaxson to Cooking 2 yearsApr 20, 2022 02:58:04 ago (+16/-0)     (files.catbox.moe)

https://files.catbox.moe/nail2p.jpg

I've been harvesting my asparagus the past few weeks. If I miss a day of cutting, the spears go over a foot long. This leaves you with at best 1/3 of the spear being tender enough for most recipes, the snapped off ends being stringy. I do not like wasting food.

I've watched a bunch of videos on how to turn asparagus ends into soup/broth, and have cooked them in the past. Most all involved an immersion blender to chop up the stems and then press the results through a wire sieve. This left very small, but nonetheless, pieces of sawdust feeling bits of the woody bits in the end result.

I was lucky enough to get a food processor last Christmas that has a plastic dough blade attachment. The thought hit me that maybe if I used the plastic dough blades to beat the stems rather than a metal one to chop them, maybe I could get the good stuff with less of the bad. So, I boiled the stems, let them cool, and gave it try.

I hope you can see in the picture the results were great. The woody stems are hollowed out and ready for the compost pile. Tonight was my first attempt at this method; so I'll guess your results may vary, as mine might in the future. My soup turned out great and didn't last long enough for pictures.



4 comments block

While true for most vegetables, the woody, stringy, waxy stem ends of asparagus that's not harvested soon enough is pretty much inedible. If the stalk is thick enough, you could take a potato peeler to it an eat the interior. I've even seen where folks don't snap or cut off then ends, but peel the stringy bottom and leave the tender tops and cook it like that.

Here's something you might not have ever done, wash your kiwi and then just eat it skin and all; it's quite good. Think of it as a thick skinned peach.