NYTimes: In Germany, spring wears white
May 20 2004
Much as I love asparagus, I've never understood the German fetish for white asparagus. Last year, during DeveloperWorks live in Munich, the Marriott hotel was having an asparagus-fest that featured a dozen different spear-based main dishes. Anyway, after reading today's New York Times, I think I'm starting to understand. I'll stick to the green variety myself -- more vitamins.
For about two months -- from late April until June 24, the feast of St. John the Baptist -- Berliners go bonkers over asparagus, especially the white asparagus grown in the sandy soil around this modest market town 30 miles southwest of the capital.Link: NY Times: In Germany, spring wears white > (free registration likely required)
They call the annual season of madness spargelzeit, or asparagus time. Along with the flowering of daffodils and lilacs, the appearance of the fat, juicy spears marks the end of the wet, cheerless Continental winter, and entire households jump into the family Volkswagen or Mercedes for a jaunt out into the countryside to sample the freshly cut asparagus. ...
In town and country restaurants across Germany, chefs vie to produce special asparagus menus. The least imaginative among them will offer a half-dozen standard variations, perhaps including asparagus with ham, cream of asparagus soup, asparagus with scrambled eggs, asparagus with cheese sauce, asparagus salad and asparagus with Wiener schnitzel. I have even seen (but never tasted) asparagus ice cream.
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Tony C http://www.tonycocks.com | 5/20/2004 2:13:56 PM
...white asparagus. Will give it a try if I ever see some as we only seem to get the green variety in the UK. However it's not the thin green sticks Thomas refers to, it can be rather good.
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Bastian | 5/20/2004 5:57:12 PM
... ist VERY popular here in Germany. You guys won´t believe how popular. It was fun to read the NYTimes article... And, shame on me, I don´t like it either ;-)
Whenever you guys visit Germany again, make sure you do it in spring-time - this is the real "Spargelzeit" ! ;-)
Regards from Germany
Bastian
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Carl http://www.iminstant.com | 5/20/2004 8:40:28 PM
Come on someone had to ask :-)
I never understood why they don't seem to serve ANY white asparagus in the US, which I have never been able to order, only the tiny measly green little sticks... until recently I assumed the US didn't *know* that there is white asparagus, too. IMHO it's more tastier and tender and not to forget bigger! Isn't usually everything else in the US bigger than elsewhere? Refrigerators, gallon milk bottles, SUV's... and now look at that tiny little green thing. Oh my ;-)