British Asparagus

British asparagus, a perennial plant of the lily family is one of the most anticipated and celebrated crops of the British spring season. The traditional growing season is a very short window and spans from St George’s Day 23 April to The Summer Solstice on 21 June. That’s just a handful of weeks to enjoy one of the best seasonal culinary delights of the year.

British Asparagus is acknowledged by Chefs across the globe as the best in the world. The climate here allows the stems to develop slowly, producing a full, sweet flavour and a fine, tender texture.

The plant grows from underground stems called crowns, which produce spears that emerge from the soil in spring. During the peak of the season, the Asparagus plant grows at a rapid rate, the spears can grow up to 10cm in one day!

The harvesting of Asparagus is an extremely labour intensive process as the tips can only be harvested during the short growing season and every plant is cut by hand! The spears are cut when they reach around 15cm long, that’s just before they start to produce leaves and flowers. For the rest of the year the plant rests and uses its leaves to soak up energy from the sun. This energy is stored in the crown until the following season. As a result, the number of spears produced in spring depends on how sunny the summer was after the previous growing season.

History

The history of Asparagus goes back thousands of years. It is pictured as an offering on an Egyptian frieze dating to 3000 BC. In ancient times, it was also known in Syria and in the Iberian Peninsula, where it grows wild along the seashores and riverbanks.

The name Asparagus comes from “the Greek asparagos (and originally the Persian asparag) meaning sprout or shoot” - The plant even features in one of the oldest surviving recipe books – Apicius's 1st century AD De re Coquinaria, Book III

Asparagus were first introduced in England by the Romans. ?After the demise of the Roman Empire little is written about the plant until the mid 1500's.? Asparagus was re-introduced into Europe in the fifteenth century by French monks who had preserved the expertise of its cultivation. A trend was set when King of France Louis XIV ordered Royal gardeners to grow asparagus in his Versailles hothouses. It is said that at it’s peak in the 18th century England grew more asparagus than any other country in the world according to the compendium?England in Particular....

These days Evesham is at the a centre of asparagus growing in the UK and holds a annual Asparagus Festival and there's even a National Asparagus Day which this year falls on 23rd April.

A traditional growing area is the north-west of England as the plant likes the sandy soil found in the fields and in Formby Asparagus has been cultivated for over 200 years. The area is having an asparagus revival and the National Trust has set up an?asparagus trail?so you can follow its history.

There’s even a proper way to eat Asparagus…. Most modern etiquette guides, including famous British etiquette bible Debretts, suggest that asparagus that is not served in a sauce may be eaten with the fingers. Specifically the left hand. Though using cutlery is acceptable, the practice of eating the vegetable by picking it up is considered the correct etiquette for the upper?classes and royalty.

Not only does Asparagus taste delicious, its packed with goodness. It contains vitamins A, C, E, B6, folate, iron, potassium, copper, calcium, and protein—and like many other green vegetables it’s a rich source of antioxidants.

The approach to St George’s Day makes me start to think about the many ways to cook this hero of a vegetable. My favourite is to pan-fry in butter with garlic for a delicious Italian-style dish.

I’d love to hear your suggestions for how you cook asparagus in the comments.

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Join me again soon. Until then.....

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