Stem Vegetables

Stems and stalks support other plant parts and conduct nutrients, so they consist largely of fibrous vascular tissue and special stiffening fibers — 2 to 10 times tougher than vascular fibers alone. Cellulose reinforces them further as they mature, and lignin can make them woody. The central cooking challenge is always fiber management: strip it, cut around it, select young growth, or puree and strain.

Asparagus

Lily family native to Eurasia, prized as a tender spring delicacy since Greek and Roman times. The stalk grows from a long-lived underground rhizome, and the small projections along it are leaf-like bracts, not true leaves.