So delicious--I mean the prose as well as the subject. I just bought 2 pounds of asparagus from a local farmstead and will try two ways to do an asparagus tart with puff pastry, planning ahead for a high school graduation party. One is a straight-up tart, the other a tarte renversée. Which shall it be? TBD. Also, there's wild asparagus, which we saw a lot of in Central Italy last month. My Tuscan neighbor made a pasta carbonara (most unusual in Tuscany), to which she added wild asparagus, cut in small dice. It was a great combination, if totally heretical.
PS: The wild asparagus that is not asparagus, at least in Italy, is luppolo, a kind of wild hops. It does look a little like asparagus from a distance, but only a little.
Classic Ed Behr, and a joy to read, this piece. Kudos, Ed! And on the subject of wild Italian asparagus, by definition it is foraged, so it is rarely seen in markets or greengrocers. Puglia is justly famous throughout Italy for its cultivated green asparagus, but it surprises me as I take my daily walks here in Puglia how many people are out plucking wild asparagus, which often grows between the crevices of the local stacked-stone walls as well as out of the ground. In truth, folks get pretty aggressive and competitive about it! (Rather like the white truffles of the springtime, sans dogs but also with considerable trespassing.) I find the taste to be much sweeter than most cultivated asparagus, and incredibly delicious. Ed, could you share more your knowledge on the wild asparagus that is not always asparagus? First that I have heard of that...
Interesting question, The plant we grow, just to get anchored, is Asparagus officinalis. I don’t in fact have much experience of other options, but besides wild officinalis, commonly gathered and eaten in Italy is Asparagus acutifolius, whose common name in Italian is asparago selvatico and symmetrically in English wild asparagus. Sometimes called asparago selvatico are wild hop shoots (Humulus lupulus) and butcher’s broom (Ruscus aculeatus, pungitopo in Italian). The plants and names vary in different parts of Italy. There are also Asparagus albus, Asparagus maritimus, Asparagus tenuifolius, and Tamus communis.
I remember at the Friday and Saturday market in Piedmont, getting foraged wild asparagus that was wildly thin. They remain my favorite, but I rarely hear of anyone in the US foraging for it. Thanks for this primer!
North American wild asparagus is the result of escapees from cultivation. I'm no expert on wild Italian asparagus, and there must be escapees, but in Italy wild asparagus is generally wilder than ours and depending on the place it's not always asparagus.
I’ve just planted a new asparagus bed here in the UK, with 3 different varieties. Thanks for the good advice here on how to keep them.
So delicious--I mean the prose as well as the subject. I just bought 2 pounds of asparagus from a local farmstead and will try two ways to do an asparagus tart with puff pastry, planning ahead for a high school graduation party. One is a straight-up tart, the other a tarte renversée. Which shall it be? TBD. Also, there's wild asparagus, which we saw a lot of in Central Italy last month. My Tuscan neighbor made a pasta carbonara (most unusual in Tuscany), to which she added wild asparagus, cut in small dice. It was a great combination, if totally heretical.
PS: The wild asparagus that is not asparagus, at least in Italy, is luppolo, a kind of wild hops. It does look a little like asparagus from a distance, but only a little.
Classic Ed Behr, and a joy to read, this piece. Kudos, Ed! And on the subject of wild Italian asparagus, by definition it is foraged, so it is rarely seen in markets or greengrocers. Puglia is justly famous throughout Italy for its cultivated green asparagus, but it surprises me as I take my daily walks here in Puglia how many people are out plucking wild asparagus, which often grows between the crevices of the local stacked-stone walls as well as out of the ground. In truth, folks get pretty aggressive and competitive about it! (Rather like the white truffles of the springtime, sans dogs but also with considerable trespassing.) I find the taste to be much sweeter than most cultivated asparagus, and incredibly delicious. Ed, could you share more your knowledge on the wild asparagus that is not always asparagus? First that I have heard of that...
Interesting question, The plant we grow, just to get anchored, is Asparagus officinalis. I don’t in fact have much experience of other options, but besides wild officinalis, commonly gathered and eaten in Italy is Asparagus acutifolius, whose common name in Italian is asparago selvatico and symmetrically in English wild asparagus. Sometimes called asparago selvatico are wild hop shoots (Humulus lupulus) and butcher’s broom (Ruscus aculeatus, pungitopo in Italian). The plants and names vary in different parts of Italy. There are also Asparagus albus, Asparagus maritimus, Asparagus tenuifolius, and Tamus communis.
Actually, a young, fresh (11,5% ABV) Grüner Veltliner and/or dry German Silvaner are lovely with asparagus.
I remember at the Friday and Saturday market in Piedmont, getting foraged wild asparagus that was wildly thin. They remain my favorite, but I rarely hear of anyone in the US foraging for it. Thanks for this primer!
North American wild asparagus is the result of escapees from cultivation. I'm no expert on wild Italian asparagus, and there must be escapees, but in Italy wild asparagus is generally wilder than ours and depending on the place it's not always asparagus.