Today, one of our culinary instructors, Sabine Vaughn, taught me how she grew up eating white asparagus in Germany. ½ tbsp White sugar ½ Fresh lemon Method: 1. 3. White asparagus is no different than regular asparagus, expect that it is grown underground in little mounds. Green and purple asparagus is available, but most only buy the white, claiming that it's the most flavorful. 400 BC: Hippocrates mentioned wild asparagus as a medicinal plant in his writings. Lack of photosynthesis supposedly keeps the stalks a little sweeter and more tender. [citation needed] White asparagus is the result of applying a blanching technique while the asparagus shoots are growing.To cultivate white asparagus, the shoots are covered with soil as they grow, i.e. White asparagus with sauce hollandaise served with new potatoes and cooked ham, the most popular German white asparagus recipe. Bring water to a rolling boil in a large pot, season with fresh lemon, table salt and white sugar (to taste). around 160 BC: Cato the Roman wrote about how best to farm Asparagus for eating not just medicine. She replicated her mother’s traditional recipe for boiled white asparagus accompanied with ham, parsley and boiled potatoes. 1 1/2 -2 lbs white asparagus, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces, heads reserved 6 cups broth, either chicken or vegetable 1/2 cup half and half cream salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste dry white wine, to taste parsley or rosemary, for garnish. In Germany, Spargel is the term for asparagus, but it really is more commonly used to refer to the white variation which is so popular here. A whole lot of love goes into growing, harvesting and preparing white asparagus, so if you’re in Germany during Spargelzeit (white asparagus time), I wholly recommend embracing the madness and eating as much of it as you can! Unlike green asparagus, the white variety needs to be peeled before being cooked. Asparagus season has been known to put Germany into a spin. Tasmania has a combination of both soil profiles. Although white asparagus from Mexico or California is available in the US almost throughout the year, its taste and texture does not reach the quality and aroma of its counterpart from Germany or France. The only difference is that the green one grows in the traditional way (exposed to light), while the white matures underground. A Culinary Tour in Germany: Stalking White Asparagus in Baden-Wuerttemberg . The Germans really do go bananas for white asparagus. German White Asparagus Recipe. Almost 80% of German production is white asparagus. Apple and Grape harvests symbolize Autumn in Germany, and Spargelzeit, the two month white asparagus season, is an eagerly anticipated sign of spring.Depending on the weather, the season for asparagus begins some time in April and lasts until St. John the Baptist’s feast day June 24, and for those weeks the country is gripped by ‘Asparagus Fever’. Going wild for the white stuff. 190g. Baden-Wuerttemberg is Germany’s third largest state and home to the famed Black Forest, the premier spa town: Baden-Baden, Cuckoo Clocks and one of the most productive asparagus regions in Germany.Located in southern Germany and west of Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg also borders France in the west and … It really does come in all shapes and sizes as shown below. A lot of care goes into harvesting and preparing white asparagus, or spargel, since it is, for the most part, harvested by hand in Germany. A traditional spring or early summer dish of sauteed white asparagus (spargel), drizzled with a simple warm hollandaise sauce. Asparagus, mountains of buttery, white asparagus. The soup is exceptionally delicious and has a very light taste. Asparagus farmers have thus devised a clever way of accommodating its special needs. To establish an industry, appropriate trialling and evaluation under Tasmania’s particular Peel outer layer of white asparagus, align spear tips and slice off ends of the white asparagus to form spears of equal length. Asparagus Season in Germany. earthed up; without exposure to sunlight, no photosynthesis starts, and the shoots remain white. Every good restaurant always sells a few white asparagus dishes. When it's asparagus season in Germany, you can find it for sale in every market and roadside stands. German restaurants do specialize in asparagus during the season (it started a week or two ago), some having multi-page special asparagus dish menus, the largest one I've seen being over 20 pages. Product of Peru. This jarred white asparagus is as delicious as it is beautiful! Directions: Make sure you peel white asparagus before you chop it into small pieces. With the first tips surfacing across some … It has to do with the deliberate harvesting process. Traditional German Creamy White Asparagus Soup makes a perfect starter for any meal! There are many asparagus fields on either side of the Rhine River in Baden-Wuerttemberg and the Rhineland-Palatinate , the warmest regions of Germany . In the Netherlands, white asparagus is predominately grown in sandy loams and in Germany in clay loams. Certain regions of Germanany have very sandy soils that are particularly suited to the growing process and in these areas White Asparagus or Spargel is big business. Only when harvested do the farmers lift the cover bit by bit. If you’ve never had white asparagus, it is exactly like green asparagus but without chlorophyll (the green in plants that helps generate oxygen in the photosynthesis process). To obtain the white, tender and somewhat sweet version of asparagus, farmers limit the plant’s light intake, burying it like a treasure under mounds of soil. During this period, Germans consume approximately 70,000 tons of this elegant pale vegetable. The Journey of the Spargel to Germany and Today before 500 BC: It may have come first from China, but also in Greece and Persia it was like the wild asparagus of today and used for medicinal purposes. 2. 2) Asparagus in Germany usually means the white variety. In Germany, white asparagus (weißer spargel) is celebrated (literally) with festivals from April to June. Asparagus mounds are wrapped in a large foil sheet. I love white asparagus season here in Germany. Adhering to the farmers’ rule: “when cherries are red, spargel is dead,” the season of harvesting and eating white asparagus (spargel) begins annually in mid-April and ends on June 24th, St. John day. The main type sold is the white one. It arrived in Germany via the monasteries sometime in the 1540s. White asparagus, often called the royal vegetable, white gold or edible ivory, is the same plant as green asparagus. Facts: 6.7 oz. A luxurious dish of white asparagus with sauce hollandaise, this recipe celebrates its short season in Germany. "White asparagus is cultivated by denying the plants light while they are being grown" . News German 'white gold' asparagus sprouts early. Asparagus were introduced to Germany by the Romans but only really took root 🙂 about 250 years ago in when it began to be mass-cultivated. Tie white asparagus in bundles of about 6 spears each. The Netherlands, Spain, France, Switzerland and especially Germany are all big White Asparagus consumers. Perfectly tender, we love eating this with cheese, tossing in salads or serving hot with Hollandaise sauce! Along with cream blob and fresh chives, it’s one of the most popular dishes in the white asparagus season. A lot of care goes into harvesting and preparing white asparagus, or spargel, since it is, for the most part, harvested by hand in Germany. It is white asparagus season here at Eckert’s in Belleville and across the globe, in Germany. Pairs beautifully with light, simple spring or summer fare such as slices of premium quality cured ham (try Black Forest ham), sliced boiled eggs and boiled new potatoes served with melted butter and sprinkled with fresh snipped parsley. It is graded by size with the thickest spears being highly prized and the most expensive. Another salad that seems to be a bit of a modern classic round this part of Germany (if not elsewhere) is a white asparagus salad with strawberries 17. White asparagus is very popular in Europe and western Asia. During Spargelzeit —’asparagus time’, which starts sometime in April but ends exactly on June 24th—Germans eat their way through 125,000 tonnes (138,000 tons) of the stuff, half of which is bought at roadside stands or in markets. When you want to know which white asparagus dish is the most popular in white asparagus season in Germany, that is the one: White Asparagus with Boiled Potatoes, Ham and Sauce Hollandaise. This allows for the spargel, as it is referred to in Germany, to be … In the UK, white asparagus is grown in the the Evesham Vale area in Worcestershire but the majority of fresh white asparagus comes from the Loire Valley in France and Germany. the Netherlands and Germany. With cream blob and Fresh chives, it’s one of our Culinary instructors, Sabine Vaughn, taught how! Approximately 70,000 tons of this elegant pale vegetable align spear tips and slice ends. Shoots remain white popular in Europe and western Asia all shapes and sizes shown... 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