Tender asparagus shoots offer the perfect spring vegetable before summer flowering renders them too woody for consumption. Their size indicates harvest timing rather than flavor difference. For preparation, one can snap a woody spear where it naturally breaks, using this as a guide for trimming the bunch. Asparagus's natural texture and flavor shine with minimal preparation—steamed or roasted with salt, brightened with lemon and parmesan, or paired with rich complements like bacon or hollandaise. Cooking for just 5-10 minutes preserves tenderness, while longer roasting creates crispy, french fry-style spears.

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Jersey FreshJersey Fresh

New Jersey

Jersey Fresh is an advertising, promotional and quality grading program originally launched in 1984 to help farmers inform consumers about the availability and variety of fruits and vegetables grown in New Jersey. Through the many years of the program, consumers' awareness has increased, and it has become the benchmark for other states to initiate their own state-grown agricultural marketing programs. New Jersey grows more than 100 different varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs. It is also ranked nationally in the top 10 as a producer of such items as blueberries, peaches, bell peppers, squash, tomatoes and cranberries.

What makes Jersey Fresh produce so special is the basic quality and freshness of the individual commodities. When a commodity is featured as Jersey Fresh, it is guaranteed to meet a certain quality standard for the size, shape and coloring of that commodity. A Jersey Fresh commodity is grown right here in New Jersey and because of the obvious geographic proximity to local distribution centers, the commodity can be picked/harvested at its peak tree or vine ripened stage and offered to retailers in a much shorter amount of time. Additionally, when commodities are picked at their peak of flavor and freshness, more of the very important vitamins and minerals each commodity offers is retained within the commodity.