I went to an upscale market here in San Antonio today to check out this vegetable. Sure enough, there was a big stack of it in the produce department. The tag said something like: "Asparations. More tender than broccoli, sweeter than asparagus. Delicious steamed." That is certainly a paraphrase but close. There was no mention of who grew it other than it was a California product. When I asked the produce personnel about it I was told that it was a cross between broccoli and asparagus and that it was delicious. (This is very doubtful as the asparagus is from the Liliaceae family and the Broccoli is from the Cruciferae family). They then gave me a well trimmed small broccoli floret with a long skinny stem to try. It tasted just like broccoli to me. The floret was very bitter though. I think that it is just a market ploy to sell the secondary broccoli heads which are always much smaller than the main head. But that is just my opinion.