Food for Thought: Chatham-Kent a top Ontario asparagus producer
Asparagus will soon be here, one of our first harvested field crops. Many people wait all year for local asparagus to appear at roadside stands and food stores.
Did you know that in Chatham-Kent, we are Ontario’s No. 2 asparagus producer?
My thanks go to the Asparagus Farmers of Ontario (ontarioasparagus.ca) for the valuable information they provided for this article. You can also find some great asparagus recipes on their website.
Asparagus is a spring vegetable and a member of the lily family, which includes onions, garlic, leeks, turnips and gladioli. Asparagus shoots arise from underground “crowns” planted about 20 centimetres (eight inches) deep. Under ideal weather conditions, an asparagus shoot, or “spear,” can grow 25 cm (10 in.) in 24 hours. If not harvested, the shoots grow into tall fern-like plants with small red seeds. Once the shoot starts to “leaf out,” the stems become woody and inedible. Asparagus is a long-lived crop that can be productive for 15 or more years if given proper care.
Asparagus comes in three colours: green, white and purple. Green asparagus’s colour comes from chlorophyll, which the plant uses to turn light energy into chemical energy by photosynthesis.
White asparagus is actually just green asparagus that has had soil mounded on top of the spears so they never see sunlight and, as a result, do not perform photosynthesis and have no colour.
Purple asparagus is simply a variety of green asparagus that has a gene that makes it purple, even though it still uses photosynthesis.
Today, the biggest asparagus-producing countries are China, Peru, Germany, Mexico, Thailand and Spain. The United States (mostly California, Washington and Michigan) is seventh and Canada is 16th in world production.
Asparagus has only four calories per spear and is very low in sodium. It is a good source of vitamins B6, C, E and K, calcium, magnesium and zinc, and a very good source of dietary fibre, protein, beta-carotene, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, iron, phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese and selenium.
Asparagus is also rich in rutin, a powerful antioxidant.
Asparagus is also a diuretic. It brings about an increase in the excretion of chlorine and phosphate compounds. This dilutes the urine, which helps prevent renal and urinary tract inflammations.
It looks like asparagus is an amazing food that we need more, so why not buy some delicious and nutritious locally grown asparagus and try a few new recipes?
With the spring planting season soon underway, farmers are moving large farm machinery on our local roads as they go from field to field. Please slow down and be very careful when you see these farm implements.
And please be patient. Our farmers are just trying to do their job, not intentionally trying to slow you down.
Thank you for your understanding.
Think about this: When God seems so absent, He is very much present.
Just some food for thought.
Kim Cooper has been involved in the agribusiness sector for over 45 years. He can be reached at kim.e.cooper@gmail.com
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Food for Thought: Chatham-Kent a top Ontario asparagus producer
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17.04.2024
Food for Thought: Chatham-Kent a top Ontario asparagus producer
Asparagus will soon be here, one of our first harvested field crops. Many people wait all year for local asparagus to appear at roadside stands and food stores.
Did you know that in Chatham-Kent, we are Ontario’s No. 2 asparagus producer?
My thanks go to the Asparagus Farmers of Ontario (ontarioasparagus.ca) for the valuable information they provided for this article. You can also find some great asparagus recipes on their website.
Asparagus is a spring vegetable and a member of the lily family, which includes onions, garlic, leeks, turnips and gladioli. Asparagus shoots arise from underground “crowns” planted about 20 centimetres (eight inches) deep. Under ideal weather conditions, an asparagus shoot, or “spear,” can grow 25 cm (10 in.) in 24 hours. If not harvested, the shoots grow into........
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