The rites of spring

Spargel Zeit

Those of you who don’t like your veggies have permission to skip this posting, because this is all about the green things—or actually, about the white things.

Springtime in Germany is synonymous with white asparagus season. White asparagus is the albino cousin of our green veggie. Called the “royal vegetable” in Germany, it’s grown under earthen mounds so no photosynthesis can take place to turn it green. As soon as the first little white head pokes out of the ground, it’s harvested by night and whisked away to roadside stands and open-air markets around the country.

Actually the first boxes of white asparagus appear in the markets in early April, but those in the know turn up their noses. It’s not German asparagus, you see, but imported from the hothouses of Egypt or Morocco. We wait and we wait until the beginning of May when we see the pale piles with the proud sign: Deutsche Spargel. And then we attack.

White asparagus is chosen for its pure white color and its thick, straight stems. The farmers recommend that you buy one pound for each person who is eating. For our family that makes a good five pounds at six euros a kilo—about $22. No wonder they call it the royal vegetable!

Those fat stems require a lot of preparation work—they all must be peeled and trimmed before steaming for up to 25 minutes.

Here's the maid a-peeling,
and the naked stalks a-steaming

The traditional accompaniments include boiled new potatoes,
Schinken (a bacon-like ham), and either hollandaise sauce or melted butter.

Guten Appetit!

Onkel Holger joined us in our Spargel campaign

Recommended dessert: a good nap.
(The rhubarb cream pie comes later.)