The magical vegetable called Spargel

nom nom nom nom nom…
Okay, I am going to digress slightly from our Hamburg posts, but there are more of those on the way soon. Right now, I just have to tell you all about Spargel!

I came to Germany by myself to visit friends as a teenager and I still remember my friend’s mum bringing out a dish of Spargel. I had never seen the vegetable before, but I like to try everything once, so I tucked right in. I can still remember the white sauce dribbling over the stalks and as I ate it, I thought: “Wow – what on earth is this yumminess? And why haven’t I had it before?”

The reason is simple. It is white asparagus. Before the vegetable pops its head out of the soil and becomes green, farmers in Germany pick the crop while it’s still in the ground. This means it is still white. Also, you only have a couple of weeks to harvest, so it is very rare. In fact, it is so seasonal and special here, that we have seen Spargel Party posters. Everyone goes crazy for this food in May and on our trip home from Hamburg we stopped off at a Spargel farm to get some fresh produce.

It was a fun experience – you choose the size you want and then for 50 cents more you can get it peeled in this machine.
Jason had never eaten Spargel before, so we bought a lot of it! Here it is fried with potatoes and Hollandaise sauce and then with the leftovers came Jason’s favourite ever soup. Grab it while it’s still in season – you won’t regret it!

*Disclaimer: It makes you wee smell weird…