Spargelzeit!

When we were in Berlin back in April, I saw a big newspaper headline screaming, "Will the asparagus come late this year?" That was my first clue of the madness to come.

Spargelzeit (asparagus time) runs roughly from the end of April to sometime in June, although May is the Spargel heyday. Once Spargelzeit begins, it's common to walk past restaurant after restaurant with signs outside saying nothing more than "Spargel!" What that usually means is that the restaurant offers an entire Spargelkarte (asparagus menu) where you can order everything from soups and salads to main dishes to dessert featuring Spargel. (Actually, the only dessert I saw was Spargeleis, or asparagus ice cream, which I can only imagine is more of a novelty item than an actual delicacy.) But generally people order it just like this, as a main dish, with buttered and parslied potatoes.

I know what you're thinking. "That doesn't look much like asparagus." The thing is, the most popular Spargel here is the white Spargel. It doesn't have as strong a flavor as the green asparagus common in the US, and it also doesn't have the same nutritional value. It's white because the asparagus stalks are not exposed to light during the growth process, hence a lack of chlorophyll, and so they never turn green. It also tends to be allowed to grow much larger than the green asparagus -- but it's not as tough as the green asparagus, either. I have seen entire stalls in the marketplace stacked full of this white asparagus.

I am not generally a big asparagus fan, but I have eaten quite a lot of Spargel this year. It's almost impossible not to, if you eat out at all (although I haven't been tempted by the ice cream). It's good. It has a more delicate flavor than the green asparagus, and when it's not overcooked, it's crisp rather than mushy or tough. But they give you so much of it. Huge platters of Spargel with nothing more than a few potatoes on the side. It's truly a case of giving people what they want. One evening at the beginning of Spargelzeit, I was seated next to a long table of people, probably fifteen or twenty, and at least ten of them ordered the Spargel. When the plates came out, there were audible oohs and ahhs from the entire group. Spargel is very, very popular.

Spargelzeit is just about past, now, for this year. But I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was so much fun to see how people went a little crazy over it for awhile. Spargel took over the culture, with television shows, magazines, newspaper articles, and books. And people were eating it, everywhere I went.