Aspara­gus — Noble and fine

Year after year, many gourmets enjoy the aspara­gus sea­son. The noble veg­etable is not only super ver­sa­tile in use, but at the same time trans­forms any dish into a del­i­ca­cy. How­ev­er, before aspara­gus found its way into the kitchen, it was high­ly val­ued as a med­i­c­i­nal plant for a long time. In India, the spring veg­etable used to be called the “heal­er of a hun­dred dis­eases”. Thus, it was pre­dom­i­nant­ly used to treat blad­der prob­lems, ulcers and coughs. 

The ori­gin, prop­er­ties and his­to­ry of asparagus

Veg­etable aspara­gus (Aspara­gus offic­i­nalis) is a peren­ni­al herba­ceous plant, which is dis­tin­guished between white and green aspara­gus. White aspara­gus grows under­ground, but when it comes into con­tact with sun­light, it turns pur­ple. There­fore, in the case of pale aspara­gus, a fur­ther dis­tinc­tion is made between white aspara­gus and pur­ple aspara­gus. The lat­ter tastes some­what spici­er than white aspara­gus due to its nat­ur­al col­orants. Green aspara­gus, on the oth­er hand, grows above ground and has a spicy-salty flavor. 

Aspara­gus was already pop­u­lar in ancient Egypt as a food and med­i­c­i­nal plant. How­ev­er, the light-col­ored stalks did not come to Europe until the 15th cen­tu­ry. There it was con­sid­ered a del­i­ca­cy and for a long time was served only on spe­cial occa­sions. Because aspara­gus was so pre­cious, it was first reserved for kings and princes. It was only in the course of indus­tri­al­iza­tion that it also found its way into the kitchens of wealthy cit­i­zens. At the begin­ning of the 20th cen­tu­ry, sup­ply and demand increased so much that aspara­gus prices dropped and the veg­etable became afford­able for ordi­nary cit­i­zens as well. Today, you can buy aspara­gus in spring in any super­mar­ket or veg­etable mar­ket. The main pro­duc­ers are France, Spain and Italy. 

The ingre­di­ents of asparagus

Aspara­gus is a very low-calo­rie veg­etable with only 21 calo­ries, but it con­tains many impor­tant vit­a­mins and nutri­ents: these include: 

  • Potas­si­um 
  • Iron 
  • Mag­ne­sium 
  • Phos­phate 
  • Vit­a­min A 
  • Vit­a­min C 
  • Vit­a­min E 
  • Vit­a­min B1 
  • Vit­a­min B2 
  • Vit­a­min B6 

The spring veg­etable owes its unique taste to essen­tial oils and the amino acid asparagine. 

 

The effect of aspara­gus on our body

Aspara­gus stim­u­lates our metab­o­lism and thus helps us flush annoy­ing tox­ins from our body. In addi­tion, vit­a­min C strength­ens our immune sys­tem. Vit­a­min E also pro­motes the pro­duc­tion and release of sex hormones. 

Aspara­gus in the kitchen

Aspara­gus can be used in the kitchen in many ways: raw, hot, cold, cooked, boiled — the spring veg­etable makes every dish a del­i­ca­cy. But aspara­gus is espe­cial­ly good in sal­ads, soups, as risot­to or as a side dish to pota­to dishes. 

Dur­ing prepa­ra­tion, care should always be tak­en not to over­cook the aspara­gus. Green aspara­gus needs only 5 to 8 min­utes, while white and pur­ple aspara­gus needs twice as long with 10 to 15 minutes. 

Pur­chase and storage 

When buy­ing aspara­gus, it is impor­tant to pay atten­tion to fresh­ness, because the veg­etable should be processed no lat­er than three days after har­vest­ing, oth­er­wise it los­es its effect. Fresh aspara­gus has shiny stalks that squeak when rubbed togeth­er. In the case of white and pur­ple aspara­gus, atten­tion should also be paid to the head — this is tight­ly closed in fresh aspara­gus. The sit­u­a­tion is com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent with green aspara­gus: Here, the head has already opened slight­ly due to expo­sure to light. Aspara­gus should not be stored in the veg­etable com­part­ment of the refrig­er­a­tor for longer than three days. 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be pub­lished. Required fields are marked *

I accept the Pri­va­cy Policy

This site is pro­tect­ed by reCAPTCHA and the Google Pri­va­cy Pol­i­cy and Terms of Ser­vice apply.

The reCAPTCHA ver­i­fi­ca­tion peri­od has expired. Please reload the page.