I haven’t tried frozen yet; I was disgusted with canned, though.
I don’t think we’ve seen it that high, out of season, in our area; but I do notice that often it’s so thin that it goes away to almost nothing when roasted. We try to only buy when it looks plump.
The frozen is for atomizing in your Magic Bullet and making a soup with fresh steamed green peas. A lightly creamy bright green soup when the real thing isn’t sensible.
Europeans whiten their asparagus - celery too, and leeks - by smothering new shoots with dirt so that they never chlorophylize. Never understood that; the vibrant color and taste of the sun-greened stuff is something this Texan celebrates every year. Can’t grow it here very well, too hot.
As an Italian, I tilt back and drop the whole spear in after wallowing it in garlic butter. I did once make it in the grooves of a George Foreman grill (tips by the drip tray), was very nice, but wrasslin’ with/cleanin’ those grills is not an exciting challenge any more :)