CHEFTALK
It is Asparagus
season!!! Time to eat white gold
In fact I am late, my excuses for that but better late than
never as the saying goes. In Europe were the seasonal tradition is kept high, the
asparagus season starts Mid- April and ends in June, on June 24 to be precise,
the feast of John the Baptist.
The timing has a reason as the ground needs to be at a
certain temperature before the spears start to grow towards the sun. The spears
are covered with soil so they stay white. Long stretches of ‘dyke like’ patched
up soil can be seen when you travel through one of touristic asparagus routes
set out during the asparagus season in Germany, Belgium and the South of
Holland.
The ultra violet of the sun, which makes exposed parts of
vegetables green, is not able to oxidize the asparagus skin. White asparagus or
white gold as they are also called are the delicious result.
When the ground ‘cracks’ the farmers know that the asparagus
is ready for harvest, the ground is carefully removed around that single piece
and with a long ‘looks like a screw driver’ tool, the asparagus is then cut
from the base underground.
Asparagus harvesters are hawk-eyed buggers, inspecting the stretches of asparagus dykes from the early morning until midday. The moment a crack is spotted, the asparagus is in the bag, quite like salmon fishing with your bare hands.
As said, the season is from Mid-April until the end of June,
officially the season last only 9 weeks and that makes asparagus so special. The
crowd is drawn from hundreds of miles away, tracking the asparagus routes and
buying some of the freshest asparagus straight of the field.
Unlike in the US were asparagus can be found year round, it
needs mentioning here that there is a famous asparagus festival in Stockton CA
on June 25, Europe keeps the seasonal tradition high and you need to have a
look in history to get a better understanding why that is so.
Asparagus most likely came to Germany after the conquest of
the Roman Empire using the lavish land to comply with high demands for
asparagus in their homeland. When the Roman Empire crumbled the asparagus industry
diminished and became virtually unknown, only to be revived in the mid-16th
century by monastery monks.
Asparagus were green those years. A cool legend has it that a
hailstorm once destroyed a complete harvest and the locals were forced to eat
the small remaining part that was left underground. This part, being white,
happened to be much tenderer than the green asparagus the people were used to,
hence the popularity of the white asparagus.
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| Asparagus 'dykes' |
The sprouts were covered with soil
to be protected from weather conditions and the tenderer white asparagus was
born.
Another tale relates the popularity of asparagus to the fact
that is was once a Royal food and who doesn't want to eat royal food that is
referred to as white gold.
The word asparagus is probably as old as the road to Rome so to speak. It is said that the word comes from the Persian word for ‘shoot’ which is asparg. The first A was dropped in Europe and Sparg or Spargel became the common mentioning of the vegetable. The British started calling the white gold ‘sparrow grass’ which annoyed some experts who found that such a Royal vegetable should have a classier name and referred to it as Asparagus.
Asparagus grow as a shoot from long horizontal placed strings
of the mother plant, placed under ground the shoot works its way up towards the
sun and when exposed to sunlight chloroform from the plant oxidizes and the
asparagus turns green.
 |
| Early days asparagus cover |
To prevent this from happening, pots were placed on top of
the vegetable to stop the penetration of sunlight. Later farmers found the dyke
method a better and easier way to produce the white gold vegetable.
There is still little time left to enjoy asparagus, when you
follow the season that is.
In my next blog I will give you some great traditional
asparagus recipes to enjoy and how to vacuum and keep asparagus for when the
season is over.
If you like to purchase a vacuum sealer before the next blog, find them here:
www.vacupack.com www.vacupack.ca
If you like to purchase a vacuum sealer before the next blog, find them here:
www.vacupack.com www.vacupack.ca
By: Marinus Hoogendoorn
7 comments:
I’ll be looking forward to the asparagus recipes! They do sell fresh white asparagus in the US. Although, it’s kind of expensive and difficult to find. I may need to adapt the recipes to the green variety. Anyway, it’s interesting to read about how they are grown and the history.
I also am in the US and enjoy green asparagus very much. I've never had the white variety, and this post makes me want to try it! I think I can find it at an independent grocery that specializes in fresh produce.
I usually just steam asparagus, but a friend keeps telling me it would be better to roast it. What do you think is the best way to quickly make and enjoy fresh asparagus?
Look out for my next blog where I will post some traditional recipe for the white version of asparagus.
I must say that that your friend is right, peeled green asparagus, seasoned and tossed with some olive oil, then straight on the grill is a great way of preparing and enjoying green asparagus. They cook really quick this way, just keep rolling them around and check with a small knife if they are soft.
I had always wondered why they were white. I had always assumed that they were that color for the same reason cauliflower is. Would they start to green within 24 hours if the farmers didn't pick them immediately? I love asparagus – I usually cook it simply with butter and a little salt and pepper. My mouth is watering just thinking about it
As long as the asparagus are protected from sunlight and remain underground they will keep a white color. If not picked quickly they will lose there moist and wither, so quick harvest is eminent for quality.
Cauliflower is white because the fruit (the cauliflower itself) is covered with the big leaves while on the field preventing sunlight from reaching the plant.
I absolutely love asparagus! I’ve been eating it with most of my meals lately. I didn’t realize that there were two types and that one was more tender than the other. I usually eat the green asparagus, but I’ll give the white one a try. In the pictures, the white ones even look bigger; are they?
I had never heard of white asparagus before reading about it in this blog. I love green asparagus -- it's a family favorite! My parents used to grow it in the back yard.
Thanks for the etymology of the name. I love stories about how things came to be.
Your blogs are always interesting and have a lot of great tips, too!
Thanks so much.
:)
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