I'm anti-snap. I agree that this has always felt kinda wasteful. For really woody ones I just peel the bottom half and chop off the end tip, and they seem to taste fine!

pro snap, then use the snapped-off ends for stock.

I snap but do feel wasteful doing so. I mostly do it for my husband who refuses to eat the stems no matter how slender as he thinks they are always tough.

I've had way too many tough, bitter mouthfuls of asparagus, so I am pro-snap. As mentioned, the ends can be used...they go in my freezer bag of scraps for veggie stock.

Anti-snap. I also think it's wasteful and peeling does a lovely job of making the stalk tender and wood-free. I make sure to check the very end after peeling and trim off anything still a little fibrous with a knife.

Anti-snap, for sure. You can peel the bottom 4" or so of the stalk instead -- so much less waste and not stringy!

I snap and peel then freeze the ends to go into a stock. If I don't have enough asparagus for a meal, I'll just peel. Oh, and I always trim the dried out ends.

I snap!

I snap. The one time I didn't the asparagus was so bitter. I use the ends in stock.

I've always snapped because that's what I was taught. But I've always felt mixed about it, especially lately since asparagus is on the table almost everyday (LOVE IT!). Funny that this popped up today. I think since I'd prefer to eat more of the whole veggie than make a stock with it, I'm going to convert! Anti-snap from here on out.

Pro snap! Fewer dishes to wash.

My grandmother used to peel the asparagus and then cook it into submission (shudder).....so I snap.

I snap. Just too much fun not to.

Snap-n'-freeze .

Used to always cut but snapped for the first time recently. Definitely felt that a few pieces snapped too high but since I am making stock soon I didn't feel too bad.

Call me crazy but it wasn't too long ago that I learned about the snap. I tried it and fell in love. The ends can be used in a compost pile or broth.

I snap. However, last night I was snapping my asaragus and thinking that it was pretty wasteful because you're losing at least an inch worth of the stalk. But I can't stand biting into asaragus and getting that really woody part *shutter* I think I'll stick to snapping and great idea @the polish chick to save the snapped ends for stock!

Snap. It's so much fun!

Feeling guilty about the waste, I tried peeling the ends instead. Next time, I'll return to snapping.

I didn't know that there was any argument about whether to snap or not. It also never occurred to me to keep my snapped ends to make stock with. I'm learning heaps from you folks.

I was taught to snap and did so all my life until I learned about the peeling from Jacque Pepin's show. I started peeling and felt virtuous while gnawing through some particularly woody sections. The other night I went back to snapping and oh! what a guilty pleasure it was! Saved me five minutes and tender all through. Since asparagus are already kind of an indulgence, I think I'll continue living it up with the snap.

I don't eat anything more than an inch below the head anyway. So snap or cut with a knife way up by the head, whichever. The stems are what makes your pee smell funny.

I love snapping the ends off. I do think though that it all depends on how fresh and baby the asparagus is. If it's fresh from the garden, well then... But if it's from the grocery, and all huge and dried-out on the ends, then I snap that stuff right off and into the compost bucket.

Snap and compost. The tough part is inedible.

As for wasteful, do you eat eggshells? Apple cores? How about banana peels?

Snapping is bogus. To prove it, just snap your asparagus. If that was the correct place, then why is it you can snap it a second time, and a third time?

I cut off an inch and look at the stem. If it looks dried out or woody or tough, I cut another inch off. Then I trim the other ones to the same length. It's a lot faster than snapping one by one. I generally peel asparagus but it's hardly necessary.

Snap or not, there are more important tricks to asparagus:

Buy good fresh asparagus, nothing dried or shriveled or slimy. $1.89 a pound is expensive if you have to throw out half the stalks because they're rotting or wilted.

Buy fat asparagus, not the teeny pencil stuff. That's not baby asparagus, it's just exhausted. I grow asparagus in my yard and I know first-hand that the stalk comes out of the root big and fat, if it's happy and well fed, or thin and pencilly if it's tired or neglected. The stalks grow taller as they mature, not wider. Those thin stalks are all fibrous skin. It's not like buying baby squash.

When you get home from the market, trim a little off the ends and stand them in water just like you would flowers if you need to keep them overnight.

If you're cutting the asparagus, cook the stalks longer than you do the tips.

I'm with mxjohnson. Asparagus grew in my parents' home. Some were wild, some were the remains of a previous owner's garden some my parents planted.

All asparagus are the green shoots of a tall, fern-like plant. The shoots are tender no matter what their girth when they have just sprouted out of the ground. Within days they will leaf out into large stringy plants.

This is one case where the fat cultivated ones are clearly better than the skinny "wild" ones (which are really inferior seedlings of the cultivated ones). Just as garden carrots are more tender than their wild counterparts, Queen Anne's lace. The fat asparagus are more tender because bigger -- there is more tender inside flesh. The skinny ones are ok -- but the fat ones are a better value and eating experience.

The key variable with asparagus is freshness. The more freshly they are picked and thrown in the pot, the sweeter and more tender and delicious they are, just like corn. Just as with corn, within hours after picking the sugars in the stalks turn to starch and with asparagus the bitter flavors come to the fore as the sweetness disappears. When store- bough asparagus are a bit old, I add a pinch of sugar to the water to make up for what they have lost, but of course, it is not the same. If you have a spacious garden, this is one vegetable it is worth the trouble.

As far as peeling versus snapping. I am a bit lazy, so I just cut off the ends, though if the stalks seem a bit stiff, I do tend to peel, out of habit.

I am anti-snap but pro trimming or peeling. The ends can be very woody. Testing them out is a great excuse to eat a couple of stalks raw to find the right place to trim.

Pro-snap, quick, easy, and you get just the wonderful thin upper part of the asparagus.

Yeah I'm wasteful, but I don't think those starving kids in Africa my mother warned me about really want the 1-2 cm of edible asparagus I accidentally snapped off.

Neither!! I learned this from watching Lara Calder (French Food at Home). She said that French cooks don't snap because you do actually snap off more than you need to. Take your very sharp chef's knife and let in drop on the stalk gradually moving up the stalk from the bottom. The knife will fall throught the stalk where it becomes tender. At first it feels slow but I've gotten better and it goes quite quickly. You end up cutting way less off.

I snap most of the time. I have peeled them too, but I usually snap or chop off the end. You do lose a little bit of the asparagus. But, oh well!

Umm, ANY part of the asparagus will make your pee smell funny, LOL! The only difference is that some people are genetically able to smell that change, and some people just can't smell it.

Snap. I have better things to do than peel it.

I'm a snapper, but only when I need to be. When I get fresh asparagus from the farmer's market, I often find that the entire stalk is green and non-woody, so there's no need to do anything to the end at all.

Also, I've learned to snap while gripping the end tightly with my fist - this seems to move the "snapping" point as close to the end as possible, so there's less waste.

I slice off the ends.