Snapping Asparagus
Female Farmer Project. I'm Susan Allen with Washington Ag Today.
Audra Mulkern created the Female Farmer Project to bring awareness to growing number of women who farm or ranch. She began documenting the female farmers in her community but she soon expanded covering the stories of women from Iceland to Whidbey Island.
MULKERN: I hear from a lot of farmers who are excited to see themselves reflected in the stories. You know, frankly, they're every woman's story really but for women who farm it's quite a lonely job at times and for them to have a place where they can connect with farmers and read their stories and see images that reflect what they do, that's been very inspirational to them.
And don't make a snap decision when cooking your fresh Washington Asparagus. You could be wasting money . In the current issue of Cook's Illustrated, the recipe testers from America's Test Kitchen found that if they snapped asparagus at the natural breaking point, they lost as much as 50 percent of the weight of each spear, a lot of what was being tossed onto was completely edible. That's because spears don't always snap at the optmal point it might be due to how pressure is applied. So Cook's Illustratged advised cutting roughly an inch off the bottom of each spear, then used a vegetable peeler to trim away the stringy exterior of the base until you find the tender center. Now you have prettier asparagus than the those short stubby spears. And 30 percent.less loss.
