>From The Independent:

<http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article361558.ece>

English asparagus tipped for great season
By Terri Judd
Published: 03 May 2006

The 17th-century herbalist Nicholas Culpepper claimed asparagus "stirs
up lust in man and woman". Whether you are a convert to aphrodisiacs or
not, this unique vegetable certainly elicits near orgasmic plaudits
from celebrated chefs, is worshipped for its numerous health properties
and has even inspired odes from one poet.

The English season starts this week and sales are expected to produce
another record year with consumption of asparagus rising 50 per cent a
year.

At the end of this month, the Vale of Evesham's "Poet Laureate" Mike
Edwards will unveil his devotional writings following the annual
Asparagus Auction. Meanwhile, folk ditties dedicated to the green spear
will be sung during a week-long celebration, which culminates with the
Asparagus Charity Ball.

Such revelling in the name of one vegetable may seem a tad excessive
but the fleeting nature of the traditional season - from 1 May to 21
June - has long made asparagus a prized food. In this age of
globalisation, supermarket shelves are rarely bereft of any fruit or
vegetable. Asparagus - a member of the lily family - is now flown in
from across the world. Peru, in particular, is the largest exporter
with 73,038 tons sold worldwide in 2004. Just 20 per cent of sales in
the UK are locally grown and, with such a short season and long
distance for it to be flown to British shops, it remains one of the
least environmentally friendly vegetables to put on your plate most of
the year.

Local growers insist home-grown asparagus, traditionally nurtured in
certain well-drained soils in England, is far superior because the
vegetable deteriorates relatively quickly after picking. The chef Delia
Smith claims: "English asparagus is without any doubt the best in the
world. Asparagus has a painfully short season in England - just two
months, May and June. So we need to be on full asparagus alert and make
absolutely sure we feast appropriately and not let the season whiz by."
Certainly, the supermarket giants believe that the increasingly
culinary Brit is doing anything but ignoring the spear when it is in
season. Waitrose said it was predicting a 40 per cent growth in 2006
sales of home-grown asparagus while last year Sainsbury's credited a
Jamie Oliver advertising campaign with a 290 per cent year-on-year rise
in sales from 700,000 packs to 1.4 million. Oliver insisted: "When good
British asparagus is in season there is absolutely nothing like it."
The Greeks praised its medicinal properties - particularly for
toothache - while the Romans brought it to England, where it has been
cultivated seriously since the 16th century.

Today it is recognised as a nutritionally valuable vegetable, a good
provider of folic acid and source of potassium, fibre, iron, vitamins A
and C as well as glutathione - a phytochemical with antioxidant and
anticarcinogenic properties. A University of Ulster study earlier this
year even found that it could provide a new treatment for diabetes. A
more health-conscious public is increasingly buying asparagus with
general sales up 50 per cent in 2005 and British growers seeing their
trade rise 25 per cent.

As with strawberries, there have been attempts to lengthen the season.
With modern growing methods some believe they can more than double it
to 16 weeks.

Meanwhile, Nigel Smith, landlord of The Fleece Inn in the Vale of
Evesham is gearing up for the annual asparagus auction on 28 May. An
outsider from Lincolnshire, he said he was warned of his obligations
the moment he took over the pub in Bretforton.

"People kept saying, 'Wait for the grass season then you will be busy'.
I said, 'What is this grass?' It is the local colloquialism for
asparagus," he explained.

The auction, which has been going on at the inn "for longer than anyone
can remember", used to be a serious market for local growers but now
offers them a chance to sell their wares - as much as £10 per bunch of
12 spears - in aid of the local Bretforton village Silver Band.

Mr Smith said: "By the end of the six to eight weeks it is available
locally, perhaps you have had sufficient. But by the time the new
season comes around you are ready for more."

I had my first spears for breakfast this morning. Dew drenched spears were
rushed to a steamer and cooked "al dente" Simultaneously, two fresh, still
warm from the chickens rear end eggs were lightly poached and placed on
crisp toasted whole wheat bread with touch of Dijon type mustard. Toast, a
layer of freshly steamed asparagus and a poached egg on top with a pat of
butter. Nothing better. EXCEPT MONOTONY. EVERY DAY, THE SAME 45^^&*I(
THING!!!!
I need some variety.

F.J.

fudge wrote:

> Toast, a layer of freshly steamed asparagus and a
> poached egg on top with a pat of butter. Nothing better. EXCEPT
> MONOTONY. EVERY DAY, THE SAME 45^^&*I( THING!!!!
> I need some variety.

Prepare or buy those sheets of pasta for lasagne, here they are usually
rectangular with a 2:1 ratio between the long and short sides, so crack them
in half to get 2 squares.
Prepare a cheese sauce, boil/steam your asparagi and then cook the pasta
squares.
For every person: put a pasta square in a dish, cover with cheese sauce /
fondue, add 3 or 4 cooked asparagi, cover with a second square of pasta but
make sure it doesn't fit plain on the first, just rotate the second 45° to
obtain this. Top with few cheese sauce / fondue and some grated parmigiano
reggiano.
Et voila: you're having an "aperto agli asparagi" ("should be "tortello
aperto", since it's a tortello), inspired by the famous Gualtiero Marchesi.
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'