This week I am

eating asparagus. It's in season, and I love it especially at the start of the season. I love asparagus with eggs (poached or scrambled), with shavings of parmesan, with lemon juice and pepper, and with an orange beurre blanc that I sometimes make when I'm feeling indulgent. Hollandaise is great, but it's not a sauce I make often - I suppose it's that we eat less butter. And it's also that asparagus is so quickly cooked, and hollandaise isn't. I like asparagus soup, too, and later in the season I make an asparagus puree (cooked asparagus, in the blender with a bit of butter) that's really good served alongside roast chicken, or veal cutlets. Asparagus frittata is good, too.I went visiting an asparagus grower, the Motta family in Gippsland, at Koo Wee Rup. Most of Australia's asparagus comes from this area (80 per cent of it). Alex Motta said their family and partners have about 2000 acres, which, when you consider that there's about 2 tonnes an acre, makes quite a lot of asparagus. Half of it is eaten locally, half of it is exported, mainly to Japan.What's remarkable about it is that each spear grows really fast in the right conditions, and there might be a morning and an afternoon or evening harvest. Everything is harvested by hand, and processed by hand. Picked, washed, sorted, packed by hand. The bunches you see in supermarkets with purple bands are all done by hand.So asparagus looks really cheap, when you think of the work involved.Does it keep? Not really. I think it's best eaten as soon as possible after it is bought. Do I peel it? Yes, I do peel bigger stalks, because I find them nicer to eat. I don't bother peeling thin stalks.How do I cook it? Sometimes I steam it, especially if I am cooking asparagus for lots of people. Usually I have a moderately big pot of boiling water, and I salt it and throw in the asparagus. Three minutes, and that's it.Oh, and it's good for you. Low calorie until you add butter and delicious things, and a good source of vitamin C and folic acid.