It’s Getting Real
In This Issue:
• Aspiring to Asparagus Season
• Accelerating Local Food Businesses
• Take a Quiz
• Photos of Flowers and a Bunny (It’s Like Disney Started a Food Newsletter)
Aspiring to Asparagus Season
I’m a lifelong baseball fan and I know spring officially begins for many people on Opening Day. But since I moved to Chicago 10 years ago, spring hasn’t been official until I get my first local asparagus.
We asparagus lovers here are spoiled, since the city is served by farmers in Michigan — the nation’s leading producer of asparagus (this was the subject of one of our earlier quiz questions). There are Illinois growers too, of course, and my social media has already had a few photos of some early spears.
I shouldn’t be so giddy about that, but it’s really a thing with me.
Anyway, while we await the fresh crop, we might as well do a little spear-ing training. During the spring 2020 season, I bought a bunch extra and froze it, and I still have a few pounds to get through.
The only problem with frozen asparagus is that it gets very soft and a bit watery when thawed, and so it’s not as versatile as fresh. But that also makes it great for soups, especially pureed varieties. So I made a batch with a pound of thawed asparagus, a cup of thawed frozen peas, and diced fresh carrots, celery and onion, seasoned with salt, dried thyme and dried dill.
A word about soup. There’s an old aphorism that something is the best thing since canned soup, referencing the fact that canned soup was one of the first convenience foods. Handy, wholesome for the most part, and using a can opener was the hardest part in preparing it.
So here’s a little secret: Homemade soup is very easy to make. Brown your proteins if you’re using any (meat, tofu, etc.) and remove. Chop up some vegetables and sauté them, seasoning lightly with salt as they cook. Add the proteins back in if relevant. Cover with broth or water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, add salt (carefully to taste) and other herbs or spices, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
If you like pureed soups, use or get an immersion blender. Handiest kitchen tool ever.
I hope this helps. Also hope you like soups because I’m going to be making a lot of them.
Accelerating Local Food Businesses
Not so long ago… okay, last week… I wrapped up a nearly seven-year tenure at Chicago nonprofit FamilyFarmed. The organization’s vision of Good Food on Every Table is embedded in the Local Food Forum newsletter, so I am happy to share the reveal on their latest cohort of rising local small businesses participating in the Good Food Accelerator (GFA) intensive entrepreneur development program.
They are (and learn more about them by clicking the links):
• Chocolate Inspirations *
• Maazah
• Mott St.
The asterisks are significant because they designate graduates of GFA’s recently inaugurated Go To Market program, which represents an expansion of the program’s effort to provide education and training to women and minority entrepreneurs from under-resourced communities.
Local companies are part of the local food community. Check out these companies and please sample their products.
Take a Quiz
Asparagus is a member of which plant family?
a) Allium
b) Asparagaceae
c) Brassicaceae
d) Solanaceae
Answer: b). Interestingly enough, asparagus was long regarded as a member of the Allium lily family that also includes crops such as onions and garlic. It was reclassified to its own family, Asparagaceae, and Garden Asparagus, the type we eat, has the scientific name of Asparagus officinalis.
Happy Wednesday, and please share your spring photos!