Sanctuary from The Mad World
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch. - Orson Welles

It’s Spargelzeit or Asparagus time here in Europe, particularly in the German-speaking Europe.  Restaurants frenziedly put the signs Spargelkarte offering menus based on the vegetable.  Soldiers of them, bunched with a thick piece of rubber band, stand in attention in farmers’ markets.  Some are spread in green plastic baskets marked with their origin - the ones from Baden is the most favoured here- and different grades - grade I being the largest, the longest, and most expensive .  It’s a sign of spring.  

The white asparagus is the same as its green twin just grown differently.  The emerging shoots are constantly covered with earth, depriving the plant of light which is responsible for creating chlorophyll, the green matter in plants and leaves.  Taste-wise, white asparagus is more delicate, sweeter, and milder. 

White or green is a passionate topic.  The discussion thread of market purchase in Bittman’s blog was hijacked to debate the virtue of white asparagus.  Bittman and a few others are sadly in the con alley.  The European readers and I are firmly in the pro camp. 

White asparagus is a meal on its own.  It is not to be added into any dish and it’s a crime to do them stir-fried like the Chinese asparagus dishes as the delicate flavour is no match to strong sauces.  I tried what Bittman did, roasting them with chicken, when I first discovered white asparagus, thinking that it was just another vegetable.  I quickly realized my error and subsequently tried what the locals do: steaming, boiling with a pinch of salt (my least favourite method as the sweetness leeches into the cooking water), or roasting them to tenderness.  I am so hooked that I look forward to the short white asparagus season every spring. 

For variations, I also shave the asparagus and cook them with pasta to be served with freshly grated parmesan and pepper as taught by Rowley Leigh in Tagliatelle with White Asparagus.

It’s important for the asparagus to be cooked but not mushy.  Treated well, they yield the most rewarding and satisfying vegetable dish.  Some claim to taste earth and mineral in addition to sweets and butter.    Mistreat them - like using them as an ingredients of other food or more notoriously preserving them in pickles and cans - they turn poisonous. 

Having said that, it’s not fair to compare white asparagus with its green twin sister.  They are simply two different food items which are not interchangeable like white and black chocolate, factory-made and home-made pasta.  Green asparagus tastes, well, green, pungent and even bitter.  But they’re great in soups, stir-fries, and roast vegetable medley. 

I swear by the German- or Swiss-produced white asparagus as they are best when fresh.  The season is very short too  so they’ll be a permanent feature in my weekly menu until June.  Then we move on to other seasonal delicacies