Snap-fresh Asparagus

Sorry but there's no asparagus this weekend while Jo weeds her patch. Meantime, here's a summary of Terry Durack's wealth of knowledge on asparagus - writing in Good Weekend.
* The natural sugars in asparagus start turning to starch as soon as it leaves the ground, so every minute out of the ground means less flavour and sweetness. (hilbarn collects Jo's asparagus on Saturday AM, and delivers by Monday AM)
* Asparagus is best cooked very quickly in a flat pan of simmering salted water and taken out while it is still bright green - about 2 to 3 minutes for thin spears and 4 to 5 minutes for fat ones.
* Those first few glorious asparagus suppers of the season are to be relished: just you, the asparagus, the butter, the sea salt and the pepper. No knives, no forks, no manners.
* The next time you have snap-fresh asparagus, don't cook it but serve it raw. Just slice the spears finely on the diagonal and toss in extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, pepper and grated parmigiano.
We asked Jo about her variety of asparagus (photographed below on November 3rd). "It's a very unromantic name," she told us. "VC157.1. It's a commercial variety which has been around for nearly 20 years, and is still considered to be one of the best varieties." Leave us a comment here if you can come up with a sexier name for Jo's spears...!