On the menu for St George
Asparagus divination, the meaning of delicacy, Earth Day, and the death of asparagus canapes
Does the word delicacy still have a meaning? In junior school I have a clear memory of a teacher telling us that strawberries are a delicacy because they’re only available in the summer. The word means luxurious or expensive; instead, delicacy seems to be used more and more to define a local food product rather than something that’s rare and to be looked forward to. With growing seasons stretching ever further, are there many fruits or vegetables left that deserve the delicacy crown? Rhubarb is in season but somehow it never fits the delicacy hat. Asparagus undoubtedly does. It heralds spring; following on from purple sprouting broccoli, wild garlic and early spinach it’s a joyful sight at markets. I’m putting to the back of my mind the asparagus flown across the world from Mexico and Peru. We’ll come to that later.
Thanks to the efforts of the team behind the asparagus festival held in the Vale of Evesham, St Georges day Tuesday 23rd April has become synonymous with the start of the asparagus season since the festival began in 2006. Angela Taylor from the council’s marketing team said;
‘‘Wales has the leek, Scotland the thistle, we wanted asparagus to be the food of St George. ‘‘
It’s doubtful that anyone in Scotland eats thistles but I get her point.
The season has obviously changed since 1978 when Jane Grigson wrote her Vegetable Book and noted that;
‘‘the asparagus season in England runs from as early in May as the weather allows, until the end of June’’.
Wye Valley Produce has developed season-extending production techniques that means it has been on shelves in early March for many years. This year, they had asparagus in February. I ate Wye Valley asparagus at The Potted Pig in Cardiff in early March this year but I still look forward to finding asparagus at farmers markets.
English asparagus is available for just two short months, the season traditionally ending on midsummer’s day, 21st June.
At the British Asparagus Festival in Evesham, the start of the season is marked with the first-cut round of ‘gras’ being celebrated at The Fleece at Bretforton. The first 100 rounds of asparagus will be departing in style by The Asparagus Express Steam Train to Cheltenham Racecourse, where the Vale Asparagus will be donated to National Star Charity in Cheltenham.
Bretforton Silver Band Asparagus Auction takes place on Sun 26 May when bunches are auctioned off at The Fleece Inn at Bretforton to raise money for the local brass band.
If you come to the festival you will also find Gus the Asparagus Man, and possibly the worlds only “Asparamancer,’’ asparagus fortune teller, Jemima Packington who tells fortunes using asparagus stems (what else).
Vale of Evesham asparagus has geographically protected food status. It’s the warm dry microclimate that makes Evehsham asparagus so special, and it has to be grown outdoors to deserve its PGI status.
Nothing highlights seasonal eating more than a vegetable with a two month life span.Â
Labour-intensive to grow and pick (it’s done by hand), asparagus are the young shoots of a cultivated lily plant. If it gets the growing conditions it needs as The Asparagus Association says, ‘a cool, crisp spring, not too wet, not too dry’ the shoots will come up. Too cold and it will stay underground. The start of the season can be hard to predict.
Why is organic asparagus more expensive than non organic? Have a listen to Shane.
Planted as a crown, asparagus takes two years to establish before they can be cut, but once in production, the asparagus crowns can be productive for ten years or more.
Whilst British and American varieties are green, Spanish, German and almost all Dutch asparagus is white, as it’s grown beneath the soil and cut just as the tips emerge. Sprue is the term for young, very slender asparagus. If you’re lucky, at some farmers markets you’ll find different grades of asparagus from thin sprue through to choice grades, and cheaper uneven stems sold for soup making.
What other English vegetable stirs up so much excitement on farmers’ markets? Nothing highlights seasonal eating more than a vegetable with a two month life span. Yesterday I spotted Mexican asparagus in a branch of Asda. Why bother when you can be eating the best asparagus on the planet, grown in the UK.
When the season starts, get to a farmers' market and buy a bunch. Boil it, steam it, roast it, stir fry, but above all, if you've never tried it, what are you waiting for? You’ve got eight weeks to enjoy it. And as it’s Earth Day today, consider buying your locally grown asparagus at a market, free from plastic.
Asparagus is the queen of vegetables. Don’t muck around with it too much. Snap or cut off the woody ends, wash, cook till just tender.
When I was little, tinned asparagus was a thing (alas), made into canapes, the flaccid stems tightly rolled inside slices of flattened bread.
Just don’t do what Florence White recommends in Good Things in England and cook it for 20-25 minutes.
Jane Grigson in her Vegetable Book quotes from an Italian in London in 1614 who ‘was astonished at the scarcity of asparagus in England and wondered why it cost so much in London.’ She adds acerbically;
‘Three hundred and sixty-odd years later, I wonder why nothing has changed. Aparagus comes in from Hungry, Cyprus, the States and what’s the good?’
Buying it flown in from Peru or Mexico you’re eating a shadow of a vegetable.
She goes on to question ‘growing cabbages that can be bought so cheaply, when asparagus is much finer a crop’.
‘Why gardeners all over the country do not automatically plan an asparagus bed, I shall never understand.’
What she doesn’t consider is that many of us don’t have the space for a vegetable bed that’s only productive a couple of months a year. She is very clear (and stern) about buying and preparing asparagus, devoting two pages to it in her Vegetable Book.
When I was little, tinned asparagus was a thing (alas), made into canapes, the flaccid stems tightly rolled inside slices of flattened bread.
Edouard de Pomaine in his delightful little book Cooking in - 10 minutes proposes tinned asparagus admitting that ‘it is tasty, though rather soft’. In 10 minutes you can cook fresh asparagus. I know which I’d prefer.
Asparagus is made for hollandaise, if you only make it once a year, this is the season. If you can’t be bothered or you’re short of time, melted butter to dip into warm asparagus or a vinaigrette on cold is perfect.
Early in the season make Maltaise sauce; hollandaise made with the juice & rind of blood oranges. As the seasons only overlap for a short time a straight hollandaise is just as good. Or, as
suggests (always ahead of the curve) in his lovely substack article, try Sauce Gribiche.Share with friends and family as it won’t keep. It’s lovely with purple sprouting broccoli which used to be known as poor mans’ asparagus, and it’s great with fish. Do use really fresh organic eggs if you can.
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What a great read, and thank you for the mention!
This is a great read. Asparagus is delicious! And boiling it for 20 minutes. NO!