Recently I was in Mount Pleasant, SC and was lucky enough to drive by the first farmers’ market of the season. Beautiful produce was plentiful including fresh greens, turnips, beets and spring onions. The strawberries were gorgeous. One stand had bucketsful of fresh cut, pencil-thin asparagus! I couldn’t wait to get home and visit our local markets. To my dismay, I found that our markets haven’t started due to the later planting season.

Even though our markets haven’t started, South Carolina grown produce should be available. According to the Certified SC Grown Web site (www.certifiedSCgrown.com), April is the time for asparagus, beets, cabbage, cilantro, green onions, leeks, mixed leafy greens, oriental vegetables, parsley, radishes and strawberries. While out grocery shopping look for these items marked as SC grown or ask your grocer which items are SC grown.

Of the SC produce in season now, my favorite is asparagus. When you are buying asparagus, look for stalks that have tight, closed tips. Thicker stalks tend to be tough and woody. Thinner stalks tend to be more tender than thicker stalks. Once you get it home, try and use within three days. Store asparagus in your fridge upright in ½ inch of water or wrap the cut ends with moist paper towels.

While prepping, watch out for woody stalks. One technique for removing the woody part is to bend the stalk gently until it snaps. The place where the stalk snaps should separate the tender from the woody. Don’t throw away the woody end! You can use it in soups and purees. Another technique to cut down on the woodiness is to peel the bottom of the stalks to remove fibrous skin.

Try this easy and delicious recipe. And if you find local asparagus, e-mail me with your source!

Marinated Asparagus

15 stalks of thin asparagus

Âľ cup water

1 tbl. Dijon mustard

2 T.extra virgin olive oil

1 T. chopped fresh dill

ÂĽ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp. kosher salt

Trim ends of asparagus and peel bottom third of stalks to remove fibrous skin. Cut diagonally into 2 to 3 inch pieces. (should have about 3 cups)

Bring water to a boil in stainless steel sauce pan. Add asparagus and boil for 3 minutes or until asparagus is just tender. Drain water and place asparagus in bowl with ice water to stop cooking. Stopping the cooking also keeps the asparagus green. Remove cool asparagus and drain well.

In bowl, mix mustard, oil, dill, salt and pepper. Add asparagus and toss. Serve at room temperature.

Variation: Leave stalks whole and toss in marinade.

Jackye Cocoros is the owner of Savory Creations, LLC (www.savorycreations.com) and provides personal chef services including cooking classes & dinner parties. Jackye also teaches cooking classes for OLLI at Clemson University. (www.clemson.edu/OLLI/). E-mail jackye@savorycreations.com) with your SC grown produce sources.