Lignin Deposition in Green Asparagus

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Lignification is the most important factor that negatively affects quality of fresh green asparagus and limits its marketability after harvest. Lignin doesn't soften when cooked, so unless you want your dinner guests to gnaw logs at your table, you got to snap the end of the spears instead of cutting them. In terms of their pee, there's nothing you can do to stop the asparagusic acid from breaking down into sulfur. But you can keep a candle in the bathroom or encourage your friends to rejoice in having a functioning body with working kidneys.

What’s the customary 5th Anniversary gift? Apparently… WOOD! So we wrangled our favorite sawmill owner/operator of LA’s Angel City Lumber, Jeff Perry – who rescues downed street trees from the chipper and turns them into beautiful planks, boards, stumps and chonks. We cover everything from forest management to 2x4s, wood grain, burls, bog logs, sawdust, tree disease, asparagus tips, salvaged lumber, kiln drying, Westward expansion, Indigenous forest management, cedar whiff, and how working with wood changes your relationship to death.

Angel City Lumber website

Donations went to The Mother Tree Project via this link

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Other episodes you may enjoy: Bryology (MOSS), Dendrology (TREES) Encore, Mycology (FUNGI), Indigenous Fire Ecology (GOOD FIRE), Carobology (NOT CHOCOLATE TREES)

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Sound editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media