Asian noodles can be made from buckwheat, potato flour, rice flour, yam or soybean starch, wheat or any number of things. They can be purchased fresh or dried in Asian markets and can be eaten hot or cold, and can be steamed or fried.
There are many varieties of the Asian pear or Nashi. Essentially it is round, resembling a large yellow to russet apple, with a crunchy, grainy refreshing texture and juicy, apple-like flavour. Best eaten slightly chilled. Good in fruit salads.
Giant river turtle or mangrove terrapin, which lives in the rivers of South East Asia. Its eggs were considered a delicacy which has reduced numbers in the wild to critically endangered levels.
The Asian stinging catfish or fossil cat is found in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand and Burma. It can administer a powerful sting which has been known to be fatal to humans.Said, like magur, to be good for recovering patients - I think that means the flesh rather than the sting.
The leaf of the Asiatic pennywort is used as the base for a drink or eaten in salads and cold dishes,
The Asiatic or winged yam is a very heavy variety of yam grown in South East Asia. It is also known as winged yam because of the winged petioles of the leaves.
Asparagus is the edible stem or spear of a plant of the lily family which grows quite tall and produces feathery foliage. Young shoots are harvested as they appear in spring. In England, the thin spokes of asparagus are called sprue. Three varieties of asparagus may be found in France from the beginning of March to the end of June. The white variety, planted deep, developing underground and cut below the ground as soon as the shoot protrudes about 5 cm (2") above the ground, is large and tender with little flavour. It comes from Alsace and Belgium, with some imported from north Africa. Purple asparagus, which is allowed to grow several inches high, comes from Aquitaine, the Charentes, the Loire and Italy. It has a full-flavoured, delicious taste. Green asparagus, widely available, from the Rhône (Lauris) in France, is harvested, cut on a level with the soil, when the stalks are about 15 cm (6") long. It is considered to be a luxury vegetable with the best flavour of all. In Italy the most tender white asparagus comes from Bassano del Grappa. English asparagus has a high reputation. If you want to make your asparagus rather fancy, sharpen it up using a pencil sharpener.
An asparagus bed is a well dug-over bed with very fine soil where asparagus is planted, the earth usually mounded in rows around the plants. It is usually ten to twelve years before asparagus can be successfully harvested, so the gardener must have a great deal of patience. We had a plot at the house where I was raised and I remember hiding in the vegetable garden, looking at the tall, graceful feathery plants of the asparagus waving above me, hiding me from the house while I raided the peas, leaving a tell-tale trail of pods behind me.
