White asparagus season is celebrated with a passion in Germany. The Netherlands, Spain, France, Switzerland and especially Germany are all big White Asparagus consumers. Therefore, no photosynthesis occurs, keeping the stalks from turning green. The fresh produce stands are currently dominated by baskets of jewel-red strawberries and stacks of bright white asparagus. Not just any asparagus, but white asparagus, the ‘vegetable of kings’, ‘edible ivory’, or ‘white gold’. Every good restaurant always sells a few white asparagus dishes. This is the best of the best local produce, prepared and cooked very simply, and I suddenly feel terribly spoiled. In fact, an entire asparagus-eating etiquette has been developed for spargelzeit, or asparagus season.The vegetable is so revered, villages hold asparagus festivals and even crown an asparagus queen.White asparagus “Back in the ’50s we grew it ourselves, like most people, and we never went to market. White asparagus, I’ve learned, represents what’s important to many people in Münsterland—a deep pride in their regional produce and respect for hard work, a love of quality ingredients prepared simply and without waste, and an appreciation for tradition. It requires precision planting and constant monitoring of the soil that’s heaped over the spears to prevent them being exposed to sunlight: if it’s too hot, too cold, too wet, dry or hard, the growth of the spears is affected. In the café, cheeses are served with beers from one of Münster’s craft breweries. During the high season, he tells me, his restaurant serves up to 220 pounds of white asparagus a week. Spargelzeit, or white asparagus season, officially begins in April, and harvesting finishes punctually on 24 June, the Christian celebration of the nativity of John the Baptist. 2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Asparagus is a highly prized vegetable in Germany. May to June is Germany's white asparagus season! “Not at all,” Grothues admits, rather sheepishly, “It all tastes the same. The city’s weekly market, a maze of trucks and stands shaded by colorful awnings, takes place in a large, leafy square by the cathedral. 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 during this … And like Elmar Grothues, Horstmöller fosters strong local relationships; he’s been buying his asparagus from the same farm for more than 20 years. 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. Asparagus is low in calories but significantly rich in nutrients and is considered to be exceptionally healthy food. H4 Hotel Münster: This chain business hotel has bright modern rooms and is centrally located. 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. The hype about the coveted white vegetable starts up again in Germany at the end of April. Typically, the spears are cut off slightly below the earth’s surface to avoid damaging underground roots. German 'white gold' asparagus sprouts early Asparagus season has been known to put Germany into a spin. Pulling a bundle of roots from the soil—a cluster of earthy rats’ tails attached to a feathery green shoot—he explains the labor-intensive white-asparagus-growing process. 1. During this period, Germans consume approximately 70,000 tons of this elegant pale vegetable. The younger evening crowd is open to a more creative menu, but we know what our regulars want.” I ask Lembeck if he’d put green asparagus on the menu. I tried to find out how to cook them so I can enjoy plenty of them when I am in Germany. But the idea that white asparagus are an improvement is strange. I’ve eaten my fill, and it doesn’t interest me anymore.”. Brandt puts down two stainless steel sauce boats next to my plate. You can usually spot the first bundles white asparagus (Spargel) at German farmers’ markets in the middle of March, but at staggeringly high prices, since the season is yet to officially begin. It’s hard work made easier through modern technology and the support of a collaborative local network: Grothues uses manure donated by a pig farm; their asparagus waste goes to a dairy farm as cow fodder. When grown under tunnels, growers can extend the harvest season. Germany has the best spargel festivals ever, offering spargel queen and king awards, the fastest spargel peeler contests, many white asparagus dishes, and live music. Polish farmhands sort and process white asparagus at Hof Grothues Potthoff. “Out of habit, their main meal is lunch, perhaps white asparagus served the classic way, with ham and potatoes,” Lembeck explains. If you think that spargel isn't worth a trip to Lower Saxony or, for example, the highly-mentioned Baden-Wurttemberg (two most famous asparagus growing regions), millions of Germans will strongly disagree with you. In ancient times, asparagus has been cherished for its delicate flavor and originally cultivated by ancient Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians. While the green asparagus grows year-round, the white asparagus season only lasts 8 weeks, from April 22 to June 25. Documentarily it is indicated that the roots of German asparagus were found somewhere around Stuttgart, where it has been raised since the 1500s. Isn’t it lucky, I think, that it tastes so good. We just like it looking nicer on the plate.”. What makes a German’s heart sing with joy? Standing next to me, Lukasz Dominikowski, armed with his asparagus cutter (a long, flat tool with a sharp, forked blade), has detected a ripple. He plunges two thickly gloved fingers into the soil, pushes it away to expose a single cream-colored spear, then slides his asparagus cutter down alongside it, perfectly parallel, and breaks it away from its root. In Germany, white asparagus (weißer spargel) is celebrated (literally) with festivals from April to June. It’s hardly surprising Dominikowski has an eye for spotting white asparagus: the 33-year-old has traveled to Hof Grothues-Potthoff, a farm estate with a bakery, farm shop, and hotel, in Senden, Germany—about 10 miles southwest of Münster—for the past eight years, to help harvest and sort up to a hundred tons of Germany’s white gold. Germans (and many Swiss and Austrian neighbors) are a jubilant bunch of eaters especially with the arrival of spargel—as the German’s call it—the ghostly-white stalk that heralds “spring is here!” It’s the first crop of the year to grace the dinner table, and after a long, gray winter this harbinger of summer elicits deep … White asparagus season is celebrated with a passion in Germany, and I’ve come to... From budding sprout to sumptuous stew. Green and purple asparagus is available, but most only buy the white, claiming that it's the most flavorful. It takes three years for an asparagus plant to produce its first tip. During this period, Germans consume approximately 70,000 tons of this elegant pale vegetable. I’m scouring the flat upper surface of the knee-high, gray-brown mound of soil for the tiny undulations that might indicate a spear of white asparagus trying to break through. 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’. Long, thick spears of white asparagus grown under mounds of earth and served up with butter and ham. This also affects the subtle flavor of it. In the old days, it was planted exclusively for the royal and ducal Baden-Wurttemberg courts, that’s why spargel earned a nickname ‘royal vegetable’ and ‘white gold.’. By Marta May 8, 2018 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. 3. Even with modern equipment, an acre of asparagus may only produce 2 tons of the vegetable per year – a v… Hof Grothues-Potthoff: This quiet boutique hotel offers stylish, comfortable rooms, a small sauna, and friendly staff. The crates are filled with cold water to keep the asparagus at peak freshness. With the first tips surfacing across some states, the season looks to have arrived early. We arrive at the farmyard just as Dominikowski and his co-workers are hoisting crates containing the morning’s harvest off their truck and into a barn. Many farms now open a restaurant in the harvest season, serving white asparagus dishes in the sunshine, right where it’s grown. Germans are so obsessed with spargel (white asparagus) that there are Facebook groups and websites dedicated to the königliche Gemüse (royal vegetable). For Germans the Spargelzeit, or the white asparagus season, is an eagerly anticipated sign of spring. 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). It contains Vitamins A, E, K, as well as calcium, potassium, iron, and includes mostly water, 2% protein, 4% carbohydrates and only 0.2% fats. Great recipe for How to Cook White Asparagus - German Recipe. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/europe/germany/munsterland-white-asparagus-food.html. It has to do with the deliberate harvesting process. Today, one of our culinary instructors, Sabine Vaughn, taught me how she grew up eating white asparagus in Germany. Traditional German Creamy White Asparagus Soup makes a perfect starter for any meal! The biggest fans make pilgrimages to the source. White asparagus is available for a relatively short period of time in the spring and early summer, starting in mid-April and continuing until around the third week of June. It’s a short walk from the … I don’t have anything against asparagus in general. No other vegetable gets as much dedicated land as the “white gold.” A small asparagus production operation requires a minimum of 5 square acres of suitable soil for an asparagus crop. It … With the hand on heart, Germans cannot live without asparagus (or spargel in German)! Spargelsaison in Germany begins in April and ends abruptly on June 24 (Midsummer Day). When it's asparagus season in Germany, you can find it for sale in every market and roadside stands. Oddly (or fortunately) this German speciality is not nearly as well-known as other famous German exports like beer, schnitzel and sausages. © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society, © 2015- The two month white asparagus season that, depending on the weather, begins some time in April and lasts until just after Summer Solstice, on St. John the Baptist’s feast day June 24.For those weeks it is a country gripped by "Asparagus Fever". Picking up a flat trowel, he smoothes over evidence of his operation. 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