BBC News - Asparagus, royalty and the joys of seasonal eating


Asparagus, royalty and the joys of seasonal eating
By Stephen Evans
BBC News, Berlin

For some, having all food available at all times of the year reduces the pleasure of seasonal eating, but for others sampling what is freshest and ripest is still a cause for celebration.

It is "Spargelzeit" (asparagus season) in Germany. Just.

In my part of the world, the season opened on Thursday, with a formal tasting in the presence of dignitaries of the state of Brandenburg.

This matters. Just as the sighting - or rather hearing - of the first cuckoo in spring was once a British ritual, marked by a letter to the Times newspaper, so is the cutting of the first crowns of asparagus that peep out of the dark mounds of earth in Germany.

And now that the season is open, everybody in this country will be bombarded with the stuff for the next two months.


There will be wooden huts at thousands of road junctions selling nothing but white asparagus. Every restaurant - every restaurant - offers its own specials of asparagus wrapped in bacon, or in buttery sauce, or just plain butter with pepper, or crisp on a plate, or limp on a plate.

There is asparagus soup, asparagus sausage. I have had ham with asparagus embedded in it. Asparagus ice cream is not unknown.

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“Stay Hungry Stay Foolish"
"There are only two mantras yummm and yuk "
"There is a fine line between a rut and a groove"
"The quality of Congress is not strained. It droppeth like a fetid cow patty from a bovine cloaca." cbelt
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"When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then
will you discover you cannot eat money."
~ Cree Prophecy




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2012 03:55PM by haikuman.

Makes your pee stink.

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The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs [www.fakesteve.net]

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jdc
Makes your pee stink.

.......was about the say the same.....love it but after you eat some your pee will 'STANK'........

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

Quote
jdc
Makes your pee stink.

and fortunately only one in five people can supposedly smell the compounds that cause the odor.
fortunately for four out of five any way.

Fresh local asparagus is hitting the shelves here too. I'm loving it. Asparagus soup, asparagus with pasta, asparagus with eggs...I'm starting to sound like Bubba from Forest Gump, huh?

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Nothing to see here, move along.

I planted asparagus in my garden last year, and it's my understanding that I should wait 3 years before harvesting.

I have some "spears" of asparagus growing (they grow amazingly quickly--something like 8 inches in 3 or 4 days!!!)--so is it important that I don't pick those spears I'm seeing? If I do, will I not get a good harvest in year 3 (next year, I guess)

If so, is that because the spears that are growing now need to be able to go to seed in order for the plant to really produce well, or something?

Usually young asparagus plants have skinny spears the first year or two and you shouldn't cut those, let them fern. If you get a healthy green fern then you most likely have a healthy crown and root.
If you get big fat spears, then you likely can take a cut or two even the first or second year as long as you leave enough energy and nutrient in the crown and root to support a big green (not yellow) healthy fern and a good healthy crown and root for next year.
Knowing what's left in the crown and root is the tough part so I stop cutting mine when it starts getting hot so the plant has some time to get a good healthy fern to put some energy back into the crown and root.

I probably could safely cut more but I really don't know how to tell too many cuttings is too many.
I don't need a lot either. If I was growing to make money I'd have to figure that out.

The three year rule ( I think anyway) is a safe rule for marginal soil and conditions, IMO.
I've done one cutting on a second year, but I also have pretty good soil.


I also have some spears that are skinny and I think that's just the way they are, so I have marked them for this year and if they are still skinny then I'm harvesting them anyway.


There's also a fern / slash then harvest method but that just seems too odd to me. Plus, first harvest on many veggies and fruits always seem best to me, letting the first one fern just seems a waste.



I never liked asparagus until I grew my own. my taste preferences have changed quite a bit though, too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2012 07:20PM by billb.

Thanks, billb!

....do you have any SPEARS named Britney....??

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

I used to see wild asparagus in the woods where I grew up, but usually I'd find it too late.