Asparagus – VOM July 2009
Posted in VOM and tagged with vegetable on 08/01/2009 09:41 am by manxIt was surely first discovered growing wild…
Asparagus has a long history going back as far as the first century. A member of the lily family, asparagus, (Asparagus officinalis), comes from the Greek word asparagos, which first appears in English print around 1000 A.D. Asparagus has also been depicted in ancient Egyptian writings and was also grown in Syria and Spain in Ancient times. Egyptians over 2,000 years ago cultivated asparagus for medicinal reasons and legend has it that it was so revered they offered it up to gods in their rituals. It cannot be definitively tracked to any one specific area of origin, although it is known to be native to the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor areas.
Prized for its flavor, texture and medicinal qualities by the Greeks and Romans. Roman emperors loved this vegetable passionately and allotted special boats to fetch it. These boats were labeled as The Asparagus Fleet. The Greeks appreciated asparagus, but never gave importance to its cultivation. However, the Romans mastered the art of Asparagus cultivation by 200 B.C. as documented by Cato. They would eat the asparagus in season as well as preserve it for later consumption by freezing, which was obtained by preserving the winter snow in straw.
By the 16th Century, Asparagus became popular in France and England and was later introduced to North America. Native Americans discovered the medicinal power of asparagus. They started drying the asparagus to use it as a panacea for bladder, kidney and heart problems.
There are more than 300 species found worldwide.
A wild asparagus has thin shoots thinner than a pencil and is much different than the asparagus that you find In your grocery counter.
Through selective breeding and growing techniques they developed a thicker stem with more edible flesh. It was cultivated in gardens in ancient Rome some as far back as the first century AD. Some of the varieties produced such big shoots that they were 3 to the pound!
Purple asparagus originated from a region around Albenga, Italy. This “cultivar” is known as Violetto d/Albenga. Although the spears are of deep purple color, the ferns are actually green. The farmers in Albenga region propagate the plants using seeds from open pollination. Seeds are usually collected from vigorous female plants producing large spears. Purple hybrids produce larger spears but fewer in number per plant than the green hybrids.
There are even festivals that celebrate this vegetable! They are always in the spring, so plan for next year – visit Stockon, California and Empire, Michigan
Companion planting
Asparagus is a useful companion plant for tomatoes. The tomato plant repels the asparagus beetle, as do several other common companion plants of tomatoes, meanwhile asparagus may repel some harmful root nematodes that affect tomato plants.[15]
