May is the month for asparagus in France. I love them. I have wondered why I left for Uruguay in May ! Since my return May 29, I have indulged in asparagus several times.
It was the recipe of the month of May in a A World in a PAN , where you can find several Asparagus recipes.
Nevertheless, during the Paris May classes and the classes in June so far, we have cooked asparagus pretty often. Asparagus with parmiggiano and hazlenut oil (pictured above), feuillete of asparagus, asparagus veloute, asparagus quiche ... Every participant seems to love them but few seem to know how they grow.
Asparagus grow best in a sandy soil. In France there are several production areas, the Saumur area, the Landes (near Bordeaux), Sologne (south of Chambord, a hunting area) ... In Germany, they are grown in Baviera. They are also abundant in the Netherlands and Belgium. The Spansih grow mostly green asparagus, less tender, thinner, and with a stronger taste. I saw wild asparagus in Sicily last year. They are very thin and the taste is stronger than the white ones.
White asparagus are around 8 inches (20 cm) long, the shoot grows vertically from under the soil but when they come out the white fades, hence the fact that they need to be harvasted right away, when they are young.
In France, asparagus are harvasted immediatly after their "nose" comes out with a special shovel that has a circle at the end, allowing to dig and pull without damaging the asparagus. According to French food regulations, they ought to be stored maximum four hours after harvested in a humid place at no more than 7 C.
Bon appetit!
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