POOR man's asparagus

ASPARAGUS:-
It is a perennial plant of the lily family,widely cultivated for it’s young shoots that have minute scale like leaves. The Asparagus plant is native to Europe and temperate Eurasia. It has an aincent cultrure,known as far back as 200B.C. during the Roman and the Greek times.
Asparagus is divided into two varieties:-
1) White
2) Green.
White Asparagus is popular in Belgium and Germany while the green variety is famous in France,Italy and England. For white Asparagus it is said that more white and thick the stalk,more will be the price, scratch it with your thumb nail and if it gives out a juice,it is fresh otherwise it is not.
White Asparagus is the same as the green variety, the difference being that it is heavily mulched before harvesting,to the extent that it is harvested before sun rise so that it never sees sunlight,that gives it the blue-green color.
Asparagus should be cooked in as simple a manner possible or it looses its flavor and turns bitter. When in season it can be served as an accompaniment to roast beef or smoked salmon.
The increase in demand for asparagus has led to substitutes of young black berry shoots and leek shoots which are nowhere near the real thing but have found their own culinary uses and are called “poor man’s Asparagus”.