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#Post#: 344--------------------------------------------------
Asparagomania
DIR By: Alharacas
Date: May 4, 2018, 2:20 pm
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Or should that be Asparagumania? Dan will tell, I'm sure.
Of course, you can buy all kinds of fruit and vegetables in
Germany all year long, whatever the time they're naturally in
season. All kinds? No. All except one. We'll buy French
cauliflower, South-African apples, Peruvian chives and Turkish
grapes without blinking an eye. But we'll only ever buy German
asparagus. Don't ask me why, it's probably about being German.
Anyway, in Germany, we're all eating asparagus now. Preferably
dripping with either butter or sauce Hollandaise, and with
small, new potatoes and a few thinly cut slices of boiled or
smoked ham on the side. If you're buying it to have at home, 500
g per person is the usual amount. Less would be considered
stingy, a little more would be generous.
In restaurants, you usually get a measly portion of about 200 g
and pay through the nose for it. Still, you'll be handed the
special "Spargel"-menu alongside the usual menu in every single
restaurant you go to. You'll be seeing crates full of asparagus
in every supermarket, there will be special booths selling
asparagus in every marketplace, and booths and signs on the
roadside advertising fresh asparagus.
Depending on the weather, every local newspaper will be either
moaning about unfavourable asparagus conditions, bewailing the
lack of field workers - being a "Spargelstecher" is a really
tough job, requiring quite a lot of skill and stamina - or
grieving for the farmers because, once again, prices have
reached rock-bottom due to a record harvest. Rock-bottom meaning
between 7 and 12 Euros for a kilogram of German asparagus,
depending on its quality - as white and as freshly cut as can
be, uniform length, stalks not split, tips neither greenish nor
purplish, diameter of about 2 cm (about half an inch) being the
most desirable and expensive.
The two places most famous for their asparagus are Schwetzingen
in south-western Germany and Beelitz in the east. Actually,
judging from the amount of Schwetzinger and Beelitzer Spargel
for sale, they must have extended the regions being allowed to
call their asparagus after either of these places so far, they
practically overlap.
However, if you'd like to try our favourite vegetable, you'll
have to hurry up and book your trip. Because the season has
already started, and it only lasts until the 24th of June. Then
it's goodbye, there'll be no more asparagus until late April or
early May 2019.
#Post#: 364--------------------------------------------------
Re: Asparagomania
DIR By: Allie
Date: May 4, 2018, 4:13 pm
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I had never noticed how important asparagus are in Germany!
If you had said potatoes, I wouldn't have been surprised, but
asparagus!? That's new! Now I will have to book a flight to try
the famous, rare and (I hope) delicious German asparagus!
#Post#: 423--------------------------------------------------
Re: Asparagomania
DIR By: nataliestpete
Date: May 6, 2018, 3:03 am
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“Preferably dripping with either butter or sauce Hollandaise,
and with small, new potatoes and a few thinly cut slices of
boiled or smoked ham on the side.”
Yummy😍 you describe asparagus so tasty, Susanne:)
I love asparagus as well as my husband which isn’t typical for
Russians. We even have “ a form” for boiling asparagus.
This vegetable is considered to be delicious and not daily
meal; so 500 gr too much for us.
I do hope you continue to share such interesting
info👍😊.
#Post#: 447--------------------------------------------------
Re: Asparagomania
DIR By: Aliph
Date: May 6, 2018, 3:56 pm
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Never knew that there are Spargeln in Deutschland. My mother was
a big Spargeln eater. We usually spent the month of June on the
seashore in Italy and we ate Spargeln every day. With
mayonnaise. The white ones. I like the green ones since they are
thinner and one doesn’t have to peel them. I am a lazy person.
#Post#: 456--------------------------------------------------
Re: Asparagomania
DIR By: Dan Smith
Date: May 6, 2018, 5:49 pm
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Asparagus is a familiar vegetable in the US, it's not one of the
most common vegetables but it's common. I don't know a word
meaning "mania for asparagus." It is somewhat expensive. I
forget what is the time of year for fresh asparagus. We buy
frozen asparagus several times a month. We like to have them
with a little butter and lemon.
There is a joke--it doesn't depend on any pun or any advanced
understanding of English, I think it can be translated into any
language.
A group of people at a dinner party. There is a serving dish of
asparagus on the table. A woman takes the plate, cuts off all
the spears (the top part) and puts them on her plate, leaving
the stalks on the dish.
One of the group, shocked and astonished, says to her: "Why? Why
did you do that? Why? Why?"
She says, "Oh, didn't you know? The spears are the best part."
#Post#: 463--------------------------------------------------
Re: Asparagomania
DIR By: Truman Overby
Date: May 7, 2018, 1:08 am
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I eat asparagus with lemon juice only { a very small amount }.
Or sometimes without lemon juice. Butter and sauces mask the
incredible flavor of asparagus, in my opinion.
Susanne, I was surprised to hear you say that Germans use
Hollandaise { I can't spell it }. It's generally us Americans
who ruin practically every dish with heavy sauces and cheese.
:P
#Post#: 525--------------------------------------------------
Re: Asparagomania
DIR By: Alharacas
Date: May 8, 2018, 1:27 am
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Thank you very much for you kind comments, Allie, Natasha,
Aliph!
Truman,
--- Quote from: Truman Overby link ---
>
> I eat asparagus with lemon juice only { a very small amount }.
Or sometimes without lemon juice. Butter and sauces mask the
incredible flavor of asparagus, in my opinion.
> Susanne, I was surprised to hear you say that Germans use
Hollandaise { I can't spell it }. It's generally us Americans
who ruin practically every dish with heavy sauces and cheese.
:P
>
--- End Quote ---
Perhaps it's part of your German heritage, hm? ;)
Dan, that's funny! As a child, I used to cut off the tips and
push them to the side of my plate, because I wanted to really
enjoy eating them right at the end, after I'd have finished
everything else. Only my brother kept stealing them "since you
obviously don't want them, anyway".
#Post#: 779--------------------------------------------------
Re: Asparagomania
DIR By: MartinSR
Date: May 12, 2018, 2:49 pm
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I have seen this asparagus mania with much own eyes. A few years
ago, when the motorway net in my country was even worse than it
is now, I happened to go to a conference meeting in Szczecin.
The most convenient way to go there from the south of Poland was
to go with a motorway to Berlin and further north and back to
the border. I travelled with my two colleagues and decided to
make a stop in Spreewald and eat something. This part of Germany
is famous for it's cucumbers prepared in many different ways. I
saw them of course. But another thing I saw was asparagus dishes
advertised on blackboard at the entrances of every restaurant.
We decided to try it so we took a seat and started to look for
those dishes but we couldn't find them. Since I was only one
German speaking person of us three I asked the waitress where
the Spargeln dishes are. As a reply he asked me if I hadn't
noticed they have separate menu for that.
Anyway we managed to order and eat delicious asparagus dishes.
#Post#: 1368--------------------------------------------------
Re: Asparagomania
DIR By: Aliph
Date: May 26, 2018, 2:45 am
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Help!!!!!!
I love asparagus but I hate to peel them. Any trick? What kind
of knife do you use?
#Post#: 1442--------------------------------------------------
Re: Asparagomania
DIR By: Alharacas
Date: May 28, 2018, 1:39 am
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No knife (except to cut off the bit at the end). I've been using
one of these for almost a decade now:
[attachimg=1]
In order not to die of boredom, I either ask my mother to read
out the clues from the Zeit crossword puzzle to me, or listen to
audio material in my target language while I'm peeling.
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