In Season: Asparagus

Spring’s a season of abundance, and if there’s one vegetable you should eat now by the bushel, it’s asparagus. At its peak from March through May, asparagus is a flash in the pan compared to other vegetables, so grab it while you can. This young Spring stalk is as lovely steamed or grilled as it is baked into a frittata or blended into a smooth soup, thanks to its distinct flavor which complements virtually any dish. Ready to learn more about buying, storing, and preparing this versatile veggie? Just read on.

Buying Tips

• Asparagus can be green, purple, and white, with green being the most common.
• Look for bright, crisp stalks. Avoid limp asparagus.
• Tips should be tight and compact. Don’t buy asparagus if the tips are opening or flowering.
• Cut ends should not be dry.
• Look for stalks that are about the diameter of a pencil or Sharpie marker. Any thicker and the stalks could be woody and stringy.

Storing Tips

• Keep asparagus refrigerated until you’re ready to use it.
• If you’re going to cook the asparagus the same day, wrap a damp paper towel around the cut ends before placing in the refrigerator.
• If you’ll need to store the asparagus longer than a day, trim 1/2-inch off the ends and place in a glass with a few inches of water at the bottom. Slip a small plastic storage bag over the tops and place the glass in the fridge.
• If the tips begin to wilt, you can freshen them up by soaking them in cold water before cooking.

Cooking Tips

• A serving size of asparagus is about eight stalks.
• If cooking in batches, choose stalks of similar size for each batch so they will cook evenly.
• Before cooking, gently snap off the ends to get rid of the tough, woody parts.
• For more delicate recipes, you can very lightly go over the stalks with a vegetable peeler to remove the tougher outside.
• Roasting or grilling really brings out the flavor of asparagus, and this seemingly delicate vegetable actually stands up quite well to these techniques.
• Don’t be afraid to experiment with a variety of cuisines and techniques: asparagus is delightful in stir-fry, quesadillas, curries, and atop pizzas!
• And who says you need to cook it? A shaved raw asparagus salad is a delicious way to celebrate Spring.

Wild Ramp Pesto

10 ramps roughly chopped
1/3 C olive oil
1/4 C toasted pine nuts
1 oz grated parmesan or Romano cheese
1/2 tsp kosher salt

black pepper to taste

squeeze of one fresh lemon or two tablespoons lemon juice

PREPARATION:

When you clean the ramps, just take off the very end of the root and wash them carefully. Use the whole plant (leaves and bulb) in your pesto.  Place the ramps and pine nuts in the bowl of a food processor. Add olive oil. Process until it is a paste, or until it is the desired consistency. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the cheese, butter and salt and pepper.

If using as a pasta sauce, add a ladle of the cooking water to the paste and stir.

Ramps, also known as wild leeks or ramsons, are one of the first delicacies of spring. Get yours from Stone & Thistle this Saturday at Mamaroneck!

• Egg salad. The recipe is chopped scrambled eggs, Mayo, some dry mustard powder, green onion, salt and pepper and a little celery seed. It was actually pretty tasty.
• Add it to fried rice 
• Put them on an English muffin and top with crabmeat and hollandaise sauce
• Mix them with sautéed onions and peppers and put on a crusty roll
• Breakfast burrito - Stir in some salsa and shredded cheese and reheat. Roll it up in a tortilla. I wrap it in aluminum foil for a to-go meal in the car.
• Make breakfast sandwiches on English muffins with cheese, bacon bits/ham/sausage, and veggies, then you can wrap and freeze for quick breakfasts 
• Make scrambled egg tacos or burritos. Use the eggs in place of meat, and top with your favorite toppings. 
• Breakfast pizzas or calzones—nice with cheddar and cooked onion, ham, whatever you have. 

‘All-Natural’? How to Guard Against 3 Misleading Food Labels

Every fashionista follows a cardinal rule: Look at the label. The little tag may be understated, but it represents big concepts—quality, style, status. Most importantly, it assures shoppers that the clothing they’re shelling out hundreds of bucks for is the real thing—not a cheap knockoff.

Consumers follow the same principle with the foods they decide to put into their shopping carts. Health-conscious folks pick up cereals because they boast brightly colored labels reading “made with whole grains” and “contains whole wheat.” Moms select certain snacks because they’re “all-natural.” And environmentalists stock up on egg cartons dotted with “cage-free” stickers. Shoppers buy these products over others and are even willing to pay a premium because they want their foods to be nutritious and earth-friendly. If the labels make these claims, they must be true. Right? Wrong. Manufacturers spend billions of dollars each year on deceptive marketing tactics to lure in unsuspecting shoppers. Part of that strategy includes using labels [PDF] that overstate foods’ nutritional content or production methods. Worse yet, many of these labels and misleading phrases aren’t even regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Intentionally misleading customers is perfectly legal, and it’s happening throughout supermarket aisles near you. Arming yourself with information is the best way to navigate these deceptive food labels. Here’s our guide to three misleading labels and how you can make sure you’re spending money on the right foods:

Made with Whole Grains/Whole Wheat

According to FDA regulations, breads displaying “100 percent Whole Wheat” labels must be made with only whole-wheat flour. That same principle doesn’t apply to the bevy of other items touting “whole-grain” and “whole-wheat” ingredients.

That’s because the FDA fails to specify what guidelines food producers must meet in order to label their products as “multi-grain,” “whole grain,” and “whole wheat.” Despite the fact that the agency has been promising to define the term “whole grain” since 1993, it has yet to do so. Food producers are left with little more than loosey-goosey labeling guidelines, with consumers paying the price.

According to a recent ABC News investigation, for example, products like “whole grain” Melba toast and “whole wheat” Eggo waffles contained significantly more white flour than wheat. Some companies even go so far as add artificial caramel coloring to make the “whole-grain” items appear healthier even though they use mostly white flour. 

The term “multi-grain” is also intentionally misleading—all it means is that a product contains more than one type of grain, not that any of the grains inside are actually good for you. Take sugary Trix cereal, which features an image of wheat right on the front of the box and says that it holds “more whole grain than any other ingredient.” The only whole grain inside the dessert-like “breakfast” food is whole-grain corn, which has little nutritional value.

What you can do: Check the ingredient list. A product that contains healthy grains should list “whole-wheat flour” or another healthy whole grain as one of its first ingredients (and definitely before white flour). Consumers should also be wary of serving sizes. A food package may boast “8 grams of whole grains per serving,” but that amount may be only a very small percentage of the actual serving size. 

All-Natural

Just like “whole grain” and “whole wheat,” the FDA fails to define what specifications foods must meet in order to be labeled “natural” or “all-natural.” In fact, the agency has no objections to any food item showcasing an “all-natural” label so long as it doesn’t contain “artificial flavors or synthetic substances.” As food labeling expert and Consumers Union staff member Urvashi Rangan recently told CBS News, “the natural claim is one of the most vague and misleading green claims that we see out on the marketplace.”

The proof is in the pudding—and the cereal, ice cream, beverages, and other processed foods that claim to be “natural.” At a recent trip to the grocery store, I found sundry items touting “natural” ingredients that weren’t so natural: Swiss Premium Natural Tea Cooler, an iced tea drink, contains maltodextrin and “instant tea.” Breyer’s Smooth and Creamy Natural Light ice cream features corn syrup on its ingredient list, as does Gorton’s All Natural Grilled Fillets of frozen fish. Even Tyson’s Crispy Chicken Strips claim to be “all-natural.”

What you can do: Again, read the ingredient list. If an item is unfamiliar, look it up first. And trust your instincts. If a food item looks heavily processed and reads like it’s heavily processed, don’t believe there’s anything “natural” about it.

Cage-Free

Food safety and animal welfare advocates purchase “cage-free” eggs to ensure that laying hens weren’t kept in battery cages, cruel enclosures so small that birds can’t even stretch their wings. Most consumers think that cage-free eggs come from happy hens pecking and clucking in the sunshine. In reality, not all “humane” eggs are created equal.

While “cage-free” or “free-range” eggs do come from hens kept outside of battery cages, these birds don’t necessarily have any access to the outdoors. They may spend their entire lives crowded inside warehouses, barns, and other large enclosures. By U.S. Department of Agriculture standards, hens that lay certified organic eggs must be given access to the outdoors. But even for this more-stringent label, there are no specifications on time and duration of outdoor access. Some “organic” producers might get their birds outside once or twice in the animals’ lives. It’s a misleading practice that goes against everything that “cage-free” and “organic” ideals were created to represent.

What you can do: Look for an “Animal Welfare Approved” label, which requires third-party certification to ensure that birds are cage-free and have continuous outdoor perching access. You can also check out the Cornucopia Institute’s Organic Egg Scorecard. While some certified organic egg producers aren’t living up to their labels, others are doing an admirable job of ensuring that birds are happy, safe, and treated humanely.