The king is regal in purple. His queen is draped in white. Their heirs stand stately and splendid in pink and green.

Each spring, Farmer Lee Jones heralds the arrival of fresh asparagus like he’s the town crier belting out a proclamation far and wide for all to hear. “Hear ye! Hear ye! When asparagus is in season, we should eat it three times a day!  And, when the season is over, we should lust for it for ten months!”


 
Asparagus has enjoyed a long and successful reign at The Chef’s Garden. But it didn’t happen overnight.

Well-tended asparagus plants can continue producing spears for 15 years or more. To do that, they require careful nurturing and fastidious attention as the seasons come and go. And, there is no fast or easy way to harvest fresh asparagus. Each individual spear must be cut by hand every single day.

So that’s what happens every morning at The Chef’s Garden.
 
Like the lords and ladies of the king’s court, our growers and harvesters are devoted to serving asparagus’ needs so that the plants stay productive, healthy and at their edible best. Over the span of a single day, a not-quite-ready-yet spear can become overgrown, its snugly-wrapped top unraveling into ferns, its al dente stem turned tough as wood. So, we stand sentinel, waiting for that sweet spot where the farm-fresh asparagus is perfectly snappy and juicy, tender from the tip of the crown to the base of the stem.


 
Farmer Jones’ three meals a day philosophy was put into practice May 4, as asparagus was the centerpiece of the Culinary Vegetable Institute’s Vegetable Showcase Series. And not only three, but seven of the courses prepared by Chef Jamie Simpson, Dario Torres and Tristan Acevedo included asparagus components. In addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner, the trio created asparagus-based appetizers, salad, a second dinner course and even dessert.


 
At The Chef’s Garden, fresh asparagus is the epitome of what it means to eat seasonally. The agony of anticipation, the luxury of abundance, and the eventual sorrow at season’s end is precisely what nature intends. It’s what our credo “growing vegetables slowly and gently in full accord with nature” is all about.
 
Because it is such a time and labor-intensive crop, many U.S. asparagus farmers are handing off production to overseas growers, particularly those in Ecuador and Peru. According to Bob Jones Jr., who oversees The Chef’s Garden’s farm operations, asparagus can take up to two weeks to reach U.S. grocery stores from such far-flung locations.
 
And, time is unkind to asparagus. Imagine a time-lapse progression of a face withering as it ages. That’s how rapidly the quality of asparagus fades. “It starts losing nutrients as soon as it’s cut,” Jones said. “Ours only takes 24 hours to get from our farm to chefs’ plates.”
 
Winning the race against the clock makes all the difference in the flavor, appearance and nutritional integrity of a vegetable, whether its asparagus, carrots, radishes, lettuce or anything else we grow.  You might say we give them the royal treatment.


 
We believe our chefs deserve to know exactly where their asparagus grows and who grows it for them. So, it’s our promise and privilege to do the hard work it takes to grow the best asparagus in the world, for the world’s best chefs. It’s their garden, after all.
 
Our chefs don’t cut corners, so we don’t either.
 
We just cut asparagus that’s fit for a king … or a queen.