Asparagus salad
- As soon as the spring gives the hints of her arrival, asparagus started knocking on the door of vegetable shops in the market.
- The visibility of this unique spear-shaped vegetable is quite conspicuous.
- It is full of nutrients and has the capacity to fight many diseases and disorders due to its medicinal uses.
- It is grown in Europe, Australia, and Western Asia.
- In America, it is mostly grown in the states of California, Michigan, and Washington.
10 surprising benefits of asparagus salads
- Asparagus for edema treatment: It’s a boon for edema patients. It has an adequate amount of asparagine amino acid, which helps in increased urination and releasing of excess salts from the body. It is a natural diuretic and also good for heart-related patients.
- Asparagus good for the brain: It is good for the health of the brain. It is having folate that prevents cognitive degeneration. The compound folate along with B12 plays an effective role for the better health of the brain and cognitive aspects of the mind.
- Asparagus fights breast cancer: The medicinal vegetable has the ability to fight breast cancer as well as cancers like lung, colon, bone, and larynx due to the presence of glutathione, a biochemical compound that breaks carcinogenic compounds into simpler forms. It contains a compound called Inulin which doesn’t digest in the upper alimentary canal but better food for bacteria like Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria which prompts nutrients absorption in the alimentary canal, thus prevents colon allergy and cancer.
- Asparagus slowdowns aging process: The presence of powerful antioxidants may help to combat free radicals thus prevents cell-damaging thereby slowing down the aging process. Glutathione in asparagus protects the skin from sunburns and pollution.
- Asparagus nutritional facts and values: One cup of Asparagus contain nutrients as follow: Calorie (27), fat (0), carbohydrate (5 grams), sugar (3grams), fiber (3grams), protein (3grams), vitamin K (70% of your daily requirement), vitamin A (20%), folate (17%), Iron (16%) and vitamin C (13%). It is also having vitamin E, niacin, vitamin B6, and potassium. (Source: USDA National Nutrient Database).
- Asparagus good for infant health: The presence of folic acid in it helps to protect many problems of unborn babies like birth defects including the miscarriage issue of the mother.
- Asparagus fights depression: It ensures the proper flow of nutrients into the brain without getting affected by homocysteine. The greater percentage of homocysteine hinders the production and regulation of hormones like serotonin and dopamine, which are beneficial for mood and sleep.
- Improves bone health: It contains plenty of vitamin K which prevents bone fracture, osteoporosis, smooth absorption of calcium into blood, bones, and joint elasticity.
- Asparagus for weight loss: It is an abundance of fiber and water that ensures better digestion and prevents constipation. The high percentage of fiber helps to release toxins from the body and reduces the chances of inflammation which indirectly helps in combating obesity and diabetes. The saponins presence in the vegetable ensures fat regulation in the body thus good for obesity and overweight.
- Controls diabetes: It is also having many anti-inflammatory nutrients such as saponins, asparagus A, sarsasapogenin, protodioscin, and diosgenin. These anti-inflammatory compounds are quite effective to fight against type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Chromium facilitates insulin better work.
How to prepare asparagus?
It is the best way to prepare asparagus as a whole. The soft and tender stems are not needed to be peeled, simply wash it before cooking. However, hard stems are needed to be peeled followed by washing it with fresh water.
How to cook and eat asparagus?
There are many ways to cook thereby serving asparagus. Some of the simple processes of cooking asparagus are given below:
- Cooking with water: Make s small bundle of the tender asparagus and put it in to boil water. Make it boil for 5 minutes and drained the water. Placed it on ice. The recipe is ready for serving.
- Steamed asparagus: Placed it into a steam bowl and kept there for 5 minutes. Now, take out for serving.
- Roasted: Heat it for 3-5 minutes. Put some olive oil, lemon, salt, and pepper to make it tasty and flavorous.
- Salads fry: Fry it for a few minutes and use lemon and black salt to make it delicious for salads.
List of asparagus recipes
- Putting asparagus into any salads.
- Asparagus can be mixed with chicken
- The combination of fried seafoods and asparagus
- Salmon and asparagus is also a good idea.
- Garlic, shrimps, and asparagus.
- Asparagus with olive oil, lemon, black salt, and pepper
Types of asparagus
The different varieties of asparagus are given below:
- American and British: It is green in color. It is the common one and generally found everywhere.
- French: It is purple. It is comparatively smaller but flavorous in nature.
- Spanish and Dutch: white in color. It is extremely delicious and but needs extra care to grow.
Health risks of asparagus
- Eating of this vegetable leads to the formation of gas.
- A strong urine odor is appearing because of asparagus acid where the breaking of sulfur compounds happens.
- Allergic persons should skip eating of it as they can face stuffy nose and breathing difficulties
