How to clean asparagus? Snap the stalk in two and the part that snaps separates the tender stalk from the woody base! Toss the base. That’s the American way.
If my Popo saw me do this, she’d probably knock me on the head with chopsticks! Don’t waste! Don’t you know the people in China are starving? No, she wouldn’t do or say any of the above–but she’d tell me not to throw away perfectly edible parts. I don’t think they sold fresh asparagus in Singapore wet markets when she was alive. I remember eating canned ones.
We hate to waste so we trim their asparagus. Or we cut of the base and throw it into soup. Perhaps it’s because asparagus was so expensive in Singapore at one time, we’d eat as much of it as we can. I used to peel the base with a paring knife. But I’ve found the easiest way to do this with a vegetable peeler, like the kind shown.
I’ve honed this to a skill and enjoy being able to trim off the woody parts of a bunch of asparagus in less than 3 minutes.
Here the tip: Rest the asparagus on a cutting board holding the tip with your left hand, and scrape the fibrous skin off the stem about 3 inches from the base. Rotate stem as you peel and you can strip the base in seconds! I slip a plastic bag under the board to catch the scraped up pieces.
When I’m done, I cut off the ends, and either leave the asparagus whole or cut them into half, or in 2-3 inch strips for a quick stir fry.
