By: Loris Sofia Gregory, Healthy Kitchen Coach, Apple Valley, MN

May in Minnesota has our taste buds perking up for those perennial delightful flavors of asparagus and rhubarb. Look for local rhubarb and asparagus at Valley Natural Foods! Though asparagus was not grown in the New World until around 1850, there are directions for cooking it in the oldest surviving recipe book created by a Roman food lover in the third century. Asparagus has a long coveted reputation as a vegetable and a medicine, owing to its delicate flavor and its bountiful fiber, protein, beneficial vitamins and minerals. Look for the youngest thin shoots of asparagus, as once the buds start to open the shoots quickly turn woody.

If you are lucky enough to procure some fresh asparagus this month, wrap asparagus in a plastic bag and place in the refrigerator vegetable crisper. Use as soon as possible, within one or two days, before its natural sugars turn to starches. If you cannot use asparagus for more than a day, either wrap the ends in a damp paper towel or bundle the spears with a rubber band and stand them upright in a container in an inch of water.

The website of Featherstone Farm in Rushford Village, Minnesota offers these suggestions for enjoying the spring flavors of asparagus, courtesy of Mi Ae Lipe’s Tastes from the Valley to Bluff: The Featherstone Farm Cookbook (2008).

Don’t miss these upcoming classes!

FRESH & LOCAL DEMO: Tuesday, May 8, 11 am to 2 pm
Featuring vine-on tomatoes, basil and English cucumbers fresh from Living Water Garden in Wells, Minnesota, “full of life, full of water and full of healthy nutrients.”

FRESH & LOCAL: Asparagus to Strawberries
Tuesday, May 15, 6:30 to 8:30 pm; $17 members; $20 non-members
Register at least one week ahead at  Customer Service: 952.891.1212, Ext. 221. or online.

 Click here to watch Matt from our produce department prepare White Nectarine and Tomato Salsa on FOX 9. Then, stop by our Valley Natural Foods demo kiosk on Saturday July 24, anytime between 3:00-5:00 where Matt will present a demo and free taste experience of that recipe!

“Savoring the Season” is a phrase often used here at Valley Natural Foods. In fact, some kind of seasonal language is used every day in the produce department. This week’s recipe features some local produce but what we tend to forget about is that the local season doesn’t always run together with what we think should be in season right now.

For example, there is no local season for white nectarines here in Minnesota but some of us don’t want to miss out on this delicious fruit. The best way to take advantage of our produce department is to ask the broader question of “what tastes good and is fresh?” Certainly the peak of the California watermelon season rivals that of Minnesota’s, so why wait for great quality when one can have it multiple times.

One example of using the local season as an advantage for better taste comes in tomatoes. For local tomatoes, the amount of time between being picked and coming to your table can be as little as one or two days, yet it may be a few weeks for California or Mexican tomatos. Some of our local tomato varieties are vine-ripened which adds even more flavor and nutrients to the tomatoes. Because of the high quality in both nutrition and flavor of all our organic produce, one can never go wrong with what’s local and in season.

Click here to see this weeks Produce Possibilities recipe

Click here to see all the Produce Possibilities Menus