Asparagus in splendour & glory: A vegetable diva holds court

The asparagus season is about to begin – last year the first coveted stalks could be picked in mid-March. Traditionally, the harvest lasts until St. John's Day on June 24th. The plants need the time after that to regenerate in order to gather enough strength for the next year. Roman legionaries cultivated the wild green stalks in the mild climates on the Rhine, Main and Danube. But with the fall of the Roman Empire, knowledge of asparagus was initially lost, before the culinary and healing properties of the noble vegetable were rediscovered in the monasteries in the Middle Ages and it took the vegetable gardens of the nobility by storm. Today, the noble stalks are grown on over 23,000 hectares nationwide, meaning that 80 percent of our asparagus pleasure comes from local growing areas such as Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Measured by the area cultivated outdoors, they are by far the number one vegetable!

The first local asparagus is a very special date in the culinary calendar for many asparagus fans and is eagerly awaited every year. Per capita consumption is a good 1.6 kilograms and around 80 percent of this grows in our immediate area, although the cultivation methods are not entirely uncontroversial. The remaining 20 percent come by truck from Greece and Spain or are even flown in from Peru. A circumstance that has now made Peru the second largest asparagus producer in the world, ahead only of China. But what actually makes asparagus so special? Firstly, it is the first regional vegetable of the season and after long winter months we simply appreciate something so fresh more. Secondly, in many places it is available directly from the asparagus farmer; you cannot get any food fresher. With sensitive asparagus in particular, short storage times and distances have a direct effect on the enjoyment. From the time of harvest, it loses its aroma and tenderness and so the quality deteriorates with the length of the transport. Fresh asparagus looks slightly shiny, plump and crisp. The head is tightly closed, the stalks feel firm and, as is typical, they squeak when you rub them together. The cut surfaces are moist and juicy and smell aromatic. The asparagus tastes best on the same day it is harvested, but if you can't prepare it until later, it is best to store it in the fridge wrapped in a damp cloth (for a maximum of two days). But it can also be frozen raw, and if you want to stock up for chicken stew or fricassee dishes, broken asparagus is usually a good option, which is usually cheaper. Other advantages are the valuable ingredients of the lily plant, which it literally proliferates with, i.e. lots of vitamins, lots of potassium, fiber, secondary plant substances and the diuretic and thus dehydrating protein building block asparagine. Because of the asparagine, however, patients with gout or kidney problems should discuss eating asparagus with their doctor beforehand.

The most common type of asparagus is the tender, white and particularly mild-tasting white asparagus, which is picked before its head emerges from the ground and reaches the sunlight. If the tips are bluish to violet, the stalk has already been exposed to the light, which stimulates the formation of anthocyanins. They are responsible for this coloring and, as it continues to grow, for the green color. Regardless of which color you prefer, from a botanical point of view it is always a stem sprout. This grows from the rootstock of the asparagus plant - the so-called rhizome. During the asparagus season, we deprive the plant of the opportunity to produce nutrients and use them for its own metabolism or to store them in the rootstock. The perennial therefore needs a phase in which it can rest - and this begins every year from June 24th. From then on, the plant can finally grow up to two meters high and carry out photosynthesis; this task is taken over by the pseudo-leaves in the form of narrow needles. Due to its origins in the warm and temperate regions of southern and central Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East, the asparagus plant is optimally adapted to dry locations and stores water and nutrients in its thick roots, which can be up to six metres long.

kept and growth delayed, which means it can be controlled. This means the plants suffer less stress, which minimizes the stalks becoming woody. The film also prevents the soil from drying out and reduces soil erosion by wind. In some cases, the fields are even heated - but this, like cultivation using film, can be viewed critically for environmental reasons. The Association of South German Asparagus and Strawberry Growers (VSSE) points out, however, that consumers would turn to imported goods in March and early April if local asparagus were not available, and CO² emissions would therefore be even greater. Added to this is the higher water consumption when growing asparagus in South America or Southern Europe. The food-safe film is used on a field for between eight and twelve years, after which it must be recycled by law.