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Asparagus is the most regal of vegetables. Tall and slender with a crown-like tuft, the asparagus almost demands that we dress for dinner. We treat it like visiting royalty in the season of its freshness and give it a pot of its own to cook it to perfection. King Louis XVI of France, who did indeed dress in silken splendor when he dined, was so in love with asparagus that his gardeners were instructed to grow it in hothouses for his year round pleasure. Science has made us almost as lucky as kings without the risk of being beheaded. |
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modest redheads Strewberry was their original name because of their habit of hiding under their own leaves as they grow. Strawberries emigrated from the Alps to French gardens in the late 13th century, but the discoverers of the New World found them growing abundantly, though still with modest habits, along the East Coast of North America. In their modesty strawberries don't call attention to their own perfect color and taste. We have found them, though, and we love them with unparalleled devotion. Fraises des bois the French call their wild strawberries and they are the treat of treats, subject to seasonality. |
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Peas are safe and secure in their protective pods, but spring is here. Yearning to break free, peas grow plump, and push at the edges of their constrictive home. Now they are ripe. The seeds of peas have been dated to 9750 BC in Thailand, and the people in the Indus Valley used flour made from dried peas in their breads. As a rich protein source, they are classic for vegetarians. No treat is sweeter than fresh peas, no cooking job more communal than shelling peas. Have peas today. Cook them and toss the tiny, peas at the end of the pod into a salad. Or eat them as you shell. And keep those pods to make a delicious soup, our discovery from ancient Rome.
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Try these recipes: |
strawberry photo©Frank Branson
2001
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