Asparagus belongs to the lily family. The plant is cultivated for its early shoots, which are in great favor in the United States, both as a vegetable, and hot and cold in salads.

Asparagus contains an alkaloid known as asparagin. Its true merits or demerits are little known, hence it has very little place in diet for the sick. It may however, be used for the obese and the diabetic.

The green asparagus is said to contain a greater amount of this active principle, asparagin, than the white, and should not be used in diet for the sick.

In early spring the fresh young fronds of the fern and the shoots of the poke make good imitations of asparagus, and are frequently less injurious. Stale asparagus is as dangerous as stale meat.

How To Boil Asparagus

Peel the butt ends of each stalk of asparagus; tie the stalks into small bundles, put them in a kettle sufficiently large to keep them straight, add a teaspoonful of salt and boil thirty minutes. Lift the asparagus, drain it on a soft cheesecloth and it is ready to serve.

To serve hot - put it on toast, with cream sauce or serve without toast with sauce Hollandaise. Cold, serve with French dressing, The tips of the stalks may be cut off and served in an individual dish with sauce Hollandaise. Or put them in a little bread patty and add two or three tablespoonfuls of carefully-made cream sauce.