Stalked by wild asparagus

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Wild food enthusiast Jhon E.Traister came home empty-handed time and time again, until the forager finally he was being...

Ol' Euell Gibbons "stalked" all the asparagus he could eat, and some of my best friends seem to gather the tasty vegetable by the cord. Unfortu nately, neither Gibbons' inspiration nor my buddies' encouragement seemed to help me. I searched for the elusive 'gras spears for many a spring, but—no matter how far I roamed or how doggedly I scoured the ground—my gatherin' sack always remained empty.

ASPARAGUS FINDSME!

Then one May morning—as I was mowing the far corner of a too-long-neglected lawn—I started to get a very peculiar feeling. Call it a wild food lover's sixth sense, deja vu, or just a gnat buzzing in my ear ... whatever the unusual sensation was, it kept coming back to me every time I went past that one bend. Well, when I get an itch I scratch it ... so on the next circuit I stopped my grass cutter and took a look.

Right away, some dead plant stalks caught my eye. The dried "sticks" stood out from the rest of last year's weeds because they were light—almost tan—in color, and because each one consisted of a single, half-inch "trunk" with a few scrawny branches dangling from its sides. The three-foot-tall stems looked like pitiful excuses for needleless, discarded Christmas trees. But, clustered at the base of these "Yuletide rejects" were bunches of firm, young asparagus shoots! At last I'd found the evasive little vegetables ... and right in my own back yard,too!

KNOW YOUR QUARRY

Now, I've told you about my plant-finding experience to show that [1] there may be lots of asparagus growing right under your nose, and [2] you can find your own supply of tasty spears ... I you know what to look for! Or, rather, if you learn how not to search for these foraged delicacies.

Don't, for example, hunt—with your eyes glued to the ground-for the "l'il sprouts" themselves: Those purplishgreen babies may be dwarfed by other plant growth or hiding under old leaves. Instead, learn to recognize the tall, dried stalks (which are all that remains of last year's mature plants). You'll find plenty of 6- to 10-inch goodies nestled under these easily observed " signal f lags' ".