David in Normandy writes

Thanks, I'll cut off the tall shoots. This is our first year harvesting
them after planting them nearly four years ago. The first ones
harvested yesterday were mostly a little tough and stringy. They are
very thick shoots - up to nearly an inch diameter, I've not seen them
that wide on the market. I don't know if it is down to the variety or
what. We steamed them for approx 10 minutes.

Should they be peeled?

They tend to be tender at the tips and tough-skinned at the base. You
shouldn't peel them. The usual way to eat is to nibble down as far as
they are tender, use your teeth to get a bit of the soft inside where
they start to get tough, and abandon the rest.

What I usually do is cut the bottom inch or so off and drop them in the
pan, then cut the stems in half, put the lower half into the pan and
just cover with boiling water (or use even less water), and lay the top
halves on top so they are merely steamed. I serve everyone with an equal
number of bottom and top halves. Most of the bottom half can be eaten,
and the whole of the top half, and doing it like this means I can eat
the bottom halves first then savour the tips.

The water they've cooked in can be used as the basis for soup together
with the bottom inches. If I feel I have time, I peel the bottom inches
that I've cut off (usually after cooking, so the taste from the peel has
already gone into the water) and the middles can stay in the soup.
Otherwise, I simply discard these pieces after cooking.
--
Kay