The great seasonal vegetable that has to be home grown or local for optimum freshness. For crowns to plant your own asparagus bed, as I have just done, click here or read on for more.

Asparagus should be eaten within 2 hours of being picked as all the sugars turn to starch. If ever a product should be sourced locally it is this, especially with all the health benefits below! To find your local supplier enter your postcode and type ‘asparagus’ into the product search box.

To make the best of your local bounty don’t just boil it, try baking in the oven or check out our recipe section for a few ideas.

Here are the great health benefits I found for the wonderful asparagus:

• It is high in vitamin K and Folate
• Eat asparagus when you are pregnant or thinking about conceiving – because of it being high in folic acid it helps prevent birth defects such as spina bifida
• Great for your heart
• Great for your gastrointestinal tract and your colon
• Great food to help treat depression
• Has been known to increase the success rate of chemo therapy
• Is considered a diuretic which means it is a good anti-inflammatory – best for arthritis, asthma rheumatism, and even water retention.
• Help get rid of warts
• Add more asparagus to your diet to lower cholesterol
• Great for nursing mothers stimulating milk production
• Has antioxidant agents – prevents the effects of aging
• Has antifungal and antiviral qualities
• Great for your kidneys – cleansing your body by stimulating urination and preventing kidney stones
• Helps prevent bladder and urinary tract infections
• Use to be used as an a aphrodisiac – increase sexual and comforting feelings
• Asparagus has anti-cancer agents – especially lung cancer
• Helps fight chronic fatigue syndrome
• Great for your capillaries – eat more asparagus to avoid varicose veins
• Great for your eyes preventing cataracts
• If you are experiencing hair loss- eat more asparagus
• Helps treat toothaches

Wow – looks like we should eat some every day! No, I say. Gorge yourself when it is fresh and in season then find an equally life enhancing food to keep your hair and other important bits healthy. Eat seasonal and local and you should stay fighting fit.

For more health tips click here.

For further information and recipes visit http://www.british-asparagus.co.uk/index.php.

Is Local food cheaper than the supermarket? We say YES, and would love your help to prove it and in the process blow away a common misconception that local food is more expensive, which is currently holding back the growth of the local food industry.

I was amazed recently when I found sugar in a farm shop that was cheaper than the local supermarket. Traditionally supermarkets have sold sugar at a loss to entice customers. It seems once they have the customer everything changes!

Unfortunately most consumers now believe that the supermarket’s buying power will result in huge savings for all. This is not the case. It seems nearly every local food outlet I speak to – and we have 7,500 on BigBarn – is cheaper on many of their products, like for like, than their local supermarket.

We want to highlight these outlets with a special ‘price tag’ shaped icon on the BigBarn map and would really appreciate your help in finding them. So please email and send us your list. You may even help keep prices low by increasing your local outlets volume of sales and, in time, encourage local producers to grow a wider range of produce.