Thank you, thank you, thank you. If I thought you wouldn’t immediately wipe it off, I’d give you a big smooch on the cheek, Sir Buffalo Sushi.I am grateful to your willingness to give the universe some of your unique talents and make us all look at Mother Earth’s gifts in a new way.You rock!
I have missed several days of blogging due to a weekend of much-needed sleep. But I’m back in the saddle again and plan to continue learning a New Thing every day! Thanks for hanging in there with me, readers!
Ah, spring has arrived – the Green Mountains are indeed green again, and the sounds of nature are at times louder than the human sounds of downtown Bennington.
Spring brings its own aromas. Lilacs. Fresh-cut grass. Barbeques. Asparagus pee.
Asparagus pee?
Yep – most of us are aware of it. Some of us talk about it. Spring brings meals that include elegant stalks of asparagus, grilled to perfection and drizzled with just the right amount of olive oil. We gobble them up and wait for the next cutting – and spend most of the season enduring the result, popularly known as “asparagus pee.”
My friend Byron brought me a huge bunch of asparagus the other day and when I mentioned his gift to my friend Wojo, the subject of after-smell came up. So for my New Thing, I decided to research this phenomenon, and find out just why it happens.
Well, it seems that this green stick of dynamo is one of the most nutritionally balanced veggies available to humanoids. It is high in folic acid, thiamin and B6, a good source of capillary-strengthening rutin, is low in sodium and calories, and has no fat unless you cover with olive oil as I do. In my opinion, asparagus is worth the after-dinner nose-crinkling, which seems to come from the sulphurous compounds. Some attribute it to a compound called mercaptin, and others say methanethiol is the culprit. Either way, sulfur plays into the end result – when your digestive system breaks down the asparagus, the compounds are released and end up in the urine. Asparagus pee.
So there you go. Another nagging question is answered. Want to know more about asparagus? Go to www.asparagus.org.
Trust the Universe 
Welcome back, Rosie! I enjoyed reading Sir Buff’s essays. In keeping with learning something new, try this site:
http://www.theketelsens.blogspot.com
Dean is a good friend of mine. We weren’t able to make the trip this time, but we’ve done it before. It is a real education. I just HAVE to activate my blog more, don’t I?
Sam
I, for one, LOVE the smell of Aspargus Pee.
In fact, in our house we delight in annouceing (after preforming said bodily function) “Guess what I just had?” and the reply is always, with glee ” Asparagus Pee!”
You know what else asparagus makes smell bad? I’m not telling. You’ll have to look that one up. But I bet you can guess. I’m not much of an asparagus fan at all, by the way, but I do like broccoli.
Good to see you back on the blogging train, Rosie.
Waiting for the next thing you’ll learn.
All my best,
Jackie
Pingback: Tidbits from the blogathon buffet « webb of science
See, I never like asparagus all that much to being with, and when eating it means asparagus pee, well, that’s just one more reason in my book not to eat it!