Although it’s a vegetable, asparagus looks a bit like a weapon on first glance. Like a medieval spear, it’s long and slender — fat at the bottom, narrowed into a point at the top — and is riddled with sharp looking barbs that would no doubt slice you if they were made of metal. Luckily, they’re not. Instead, they’re made of delicious, woody stalks and natural sugars, making these spears ideal for eating instead of throwing.

Even ancient warriors agree, as asparagus was grown in ancient Egypt and in ancient Rome, by the subjects of Julius Caesar himself. In fact, an old Roman saying — “As quick as cooking asparagus” — was a popular way to say you’d accomplished something quickly.

As early as 200 B.C. people were leaving written instructions for growing asparagus. The English word — which comes from the Greek word asparagos, meaning sprout or shoot — didn’t appear in print, however, until 1000 A.D. A few hundred years later, during the 15th and 16th centuries in Renaissance-era Italy, asparagus was especially popular, as it was a sign of elegance and wealth. In fact, it became known in Europe as “the food of kings” because King Louis XIV of France enjoyed it so much that he had special greenhouses built to produce a year-round supply of it.

It’s no wonder Louis liked it so much, as asparagus — a member of the Lily family — is among the world’s most nutritious vegetables. At less than four calories per spear, it’s loaded with folic acid, potassium, fiber, thiamin, vitamin C and vitamin B6, not to mention rutin, a compound that strengthens capillary walls. It’s so nutritious, in fact, that ancient Chinese herbalists used asparagus root to treat everything from arthritis to infertility.

Because asparagus is so nutritious, we’re lucky that we can get it year-round. Although spring is the best season for fresh asparagus — crops in the United States are typically harvested from late February to June, April being the peak — it’s grown year-round all over the world. That’s because an asparagus plant is among the heartiest plants out there, capable of producing asparagus for up to 15 years. In fact, under ideal conditions a single asparagus crown can produce a 10-inch asparagus spear in just 24 hours, which means that some asparagus fields must be harvested every day. In the United States, where nearly 95 percent of the country’s fresh asparagus is grown in California, that harvest adds up to 200 million pounds every year.

That’s a lot of asparagus to eat. Luckily, it’s hard to get bored eating it, as there are several varieties of asparagus — green, purple and the ever-elegant white, which is asparagus that’s been deprived of light and is therefore milder in flavor and more tender than the green variety — and many ways to prepare it. Try blanching it, for instance, for five to eight minutes in boiling water. Or, better yet, roasting it with olive oil in a high-temperature oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Bored with that? You can stir fry it, steam it or even grill it.

However you prepare it, you’ll get the best results when you choose asparagus spears that are firm and closed at the tip. You can choose thick stalks or slender ones — both are delicious — but be sure to trim an inch or two off the ends before cooking. If they’re especially thick, it’s a good idea to peel them, too, with a vegetable peeler. After that, the spears are ready to throw — straight onto your dinner menu!