Empresas Del Bosque, Inc.

ASPARAGUS

While our area is not the major asparagus growing region of California, it produces some of the best in the country. Asparagus, a member of the lily family, is a perennial plant, meaning that it has a long life span of multiple years. Our fields produce for about 10 years. There are three stages of growth. The plants thrive as a bush, or “fern” from late spring until fall. When the plants senesce (turn color and dry like leaves in the fall), we shred the above ground brush. For the next three or more months during winter, the ground is bare, with the crowns, underground parts of the plant that store carbohydrates, in dormancy. As the ground warms in spring, the crowns initiate their shoots that emerge through the soil as spears. When the spears attain a length of more than nine inches above the soil, they are harvested. Harvesting is done by hand, with a worker cutting the spears below the ground level with a knife and collecting them in bins. The crowns continually push spears from beneath the soil for the next two or more months, usually March through May. Harvesting continues every day during that season. Spears can grow up to two or more inches in a day. At some time in the late spring when the temperatures are very warm, we terminate harvesting. The spears are allowed to grow and they again become the fern, beginning another cycle.

Our asparagus is packed at R&N Packing in Firebaugh. The product comes in from the field in bins. It is washed, sorted by size, trimmed, and packed in many different types of boxes as preferred by our many customers. Most of our asparagus is shipped domestically, but some is exported to Europe and the Far East.

Click on the link, California Asparagus Commission http://www.calasparagus.com/, for more information and some great recipes for this delicious vegetable.