23rd March: Asparagus

The French Revolutionary Calendar celebrated asparagus today, so here are ten facts about asparagus you may not know:

1. The earliest depiction of asparagus was on an Egyptian frieze dating back to 3,000 BC. It’s said Queen Nefertiti proclaimed it to be the food of the Gods. By 160BC people like Cato The Elder, a Roman statesman, were writing about how to grow it. The Romans loved asparagus. Caesar Augustus would send out special “asparagus fleets” to collect the very best plants, and have his fastest runners take them to the Alps to be frozen. France’s King Louis XIV dubbed asparagus the “king of vegetables” and was first to have them cultivated in greenhouses. Nicholas Culpeper, a 17th century English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer wrote in The English Phystian that asparagus “stirreth up bodily lust in Man or Woman”, in other words, it's an aphrodisiac.
2. The Romans had a saying, “Velocius quam asparagi conquantur!” or “Faster than cooking asparagus,” which meant "hurry up!"
3. The word asparagus originates from the Persian word for "sprout" or "shoot". It is sometimes called "sparrow grass".
4. The country which produces the most asparagus is China, followed by Peru and Germany.
5. Asparagus contains no fat or cholesterol. It is high in asparagine (an amino acid which acts as a diuretic) and helpful for removing salts from the body which is good for people with oedema, high blood pressure, or other heart-related issues. Asparagus is one of the best vegetable sources for riboflavin (Vitamin B2) which studies have shown can help reduce the frequency of migraine headaches. It is believed that the vegetable helps certain enzymes break down alcohol so it can also be a hangover cure. The aphrodisiac label probably comes from the amount of Vitamin E in it.
6. OK, so we can't do asparagus without mentioning smelly urine. Certain compounds in asparagus are metabolised to ammonia and various sulfur-containing products, including thiols and thioesters, which give urine the characteristic smell. What you may not know is that only about 25% of people can smell this - those with a specific gene.
7. Most asparagus is Green, although there is a purple variety. White asparagus is basically green asparagus which has been deprived of sunlight. If white asparagus isn't put in a sealed box as soon as it is picked, it will turn Pink, and there is no market for pink asparagus.
8. Most of the asparagus on your plate is a male clone. This is because the female plants expend too much energy producing red berries.
9. Once planted, it takes three years for an asparagus plant to produce a harvest, but they can be harvested for around 15 years after that. The plants are fast growing, too - when it's hot, asparagus plants can grow up to 7 inches a day.
10. There is a museum dedicated to asparagus. The European Asparagus Museum (Europäisches Spargelmuseum in German), is in Schrobenhausen, Bavaria, Germany and contains everything about asparagus - its history, botany, cultivation, art and curiosities.