Spargel- The Asparagus Craze

Fitting with the stereotype of being a kid, I always hated eating my peas.  To this day I really don't like them.  On the other hand I really enjoyed some of the things TV told me I shouldn't like:  spinach and asparagus (and TV would never lie).  I like to cook with spinach, but haven't used asparagus that much as I know it is more difficult to prepare well and I only like it if is not stringy. 

The Germans though take liking asparagus to another level.  But before I talk about that, I will give you some background on Spargel.  Spargel is German for asparagus, but refers to white asparagus, which is difficult to find in the US.  Green asparagus is usually referred to as grüner Spargel.  White asparagus is grown covered with dirt so that it does not see light until it is picked.  That is why it stays white.  If it has seen some light it gets tinged with purple.  I think that this kind looks nice, but it is considered marred.  I have read though that the purple doesn't actually change the taste, so I haven't been too picky about the coloring when buying Spargel.  The other thing you have to know when buying Spargel is that just because they are super thick doesn't mean that they will be less good.  In the US when I would buy asparagus I would always look for the thinnest ones as they always seemed to be the most tender.  Here you can't get thin asparagus.  This becomes helpful because you actually need to peel Spargel.  The first batch we bought was early in the season (mid April), so even though we peeled a good portion off of it it was still stringy.  I peeled some of that batch the next day but peeled off a bunch more and it was better.  If you peeled this much off US asparagus there would be nothing left.  We have heard that they are also stringy-er early in the season.  After peeling a ton (actually 2 kilograms) of Spargel in two days, I realized why the dishes with Spargel in it at the restaurants are a bit more expensive than most things here.

Spargel Soup at a Greek Restaurant

Last spring we were in Berlin for a weekend during Spargel season.  We didn't know it at the time.  We just noticed how every weekly special item no matter what restaurant we were in included asparagus.  Actually it was one of the new German words we learned on that visit since it was everywhere.  When out to dinner with some German friends we commented on this and they told us that you can only get Spargel fresh in the spring. So people eat a ton of it now because they can't get it again for the rest of the year.  And now that we are living here, it really does pervade through German daily life.  Suddenly everything comes with Spargel: soups, salads, pastas, pizza.  At one restaurant the weekly menu had listed Beelitzer Spargel as a main dish. (Beelitz is apparently a "thousand-year-old Spargel metropolis.")  When you read the description of the dish, you find that it is asparagus and new potatoes in hollandaise sauce with chicken.  I love that chicken became the side!  And it was a meal-sized portion of chicken too.  I've actually read that it's proper Spargel etiquette to always list the Spargel as the main part of the meal, no matter what else there is. (Why there is specific Spargel etiquette I don't know.)

You also see Spargel being sold everywhere.  We were at Treptower Park walking along the river Spree and set up near the food huts was a lady selling Spargel.  I went to the new mall on Schlossstrasse (which is actually like a huge American mall) and there was a Spargel stand set up as you walked into the mall.  I don't think I have ever been to a mall where I could buy produce as I entered the building.  It is also prominently displayed at the grocery store. And you can see above that it was the topic of the cooking magazine!
 

Spargel for soup

The peelings

Since I like asparagus anyway it has been nice to fall into the craze and I find that I often order something with it in it when we are out.  I also have tried to cook with it a bit while it is around.  I have tried what was said to be a traditional recipe from Saveur.com where you boil it with some lemon juice and also White Asparagus Soup.  Both were very good.  It has been a while since I have made anything with asparagus now so I am ready to buy some more, peel away, and try some new recipes. 

So if you are thinking, yum asparagus...come to Berlin in the spring and dig in.

1. Mai 2012

May 1st is Labor Day in Germany.  It is celebrated quite differently than the Labor Day in the US where schools are closed, but shops are open for big sales, and it is the last open weekend for beach season.  For me while growing up Labor Day meant school would open the next day.

In Berlin, it is a day for revolution.  Schools are still closed but so are most stores.  The restaurants and cafes being open as most people have off and can go to them.  There are political demonstrations and often riots.  It is a day to throw rocks and bottles at police.  (Which doesn't sound like the best of ideas in my book.)  Since the late 1980s the biggest demonstrations take place in Kreuzberg around the Kottbusser Tor area.  To try to reclaim the area from a day of rioting they have introduced MyFest, which is a street fair around the Kottbusser Tor area on May 1st.  I read somewhere that the police help to throw the fair to offset the riots, but I am not sure if this is true.  We were told that it was a fun street party for most of the day, but to make sure to leave when it seemed like most people were leaving.  We decided to give it a try.

So we headed out to the U-Bahn.  We are not very far from Kottbusser Tor, so it was easy to get there.  Because so many people go, the trains were running every minute making it even easier than normal.  This is an excellent strategy I think to keep people from being too packed in and to keep tensions down.

Once we arrived we joined the stream of people walking in the blocked off streets.  There were tons of food stands.  Some were the typical food stands at any fair or festival, some were outside stands for the restaurants behind them, and some were from people who lived in the apartments that lined the streets taking advantage of the throngs of people invading their streets.  Kreuzberg has a heavy Turkish population so it was not too surprising that most of the food available was Turkish.  Beer and mixed drinks were also easily available at every turn.


Music was everywhere too.  Because the street fest was spread out across several streets in the area there was no one place for a big stage to be set up so that everyone could listen.  Instead they set up many little stages here and there along the street.  As you walked you would go from being able to hear one band or DJ to the next.  Our favorite band was Puto Production, which is the group of guys playing drums seen here.  They were pretty good and their show was a lot of fun, so they drew a big crowd of listeners and dancers.  They played for quite a long time before taking a break too, which was quite impressive.  They played near another stage that was piping out a CD through speakers and this band kept playing louder as the music through the speakers also got louder. 

In the end we did not stay all too long because of lack of sunblock and a list of other things we had to do.  So we didn't get even close to the time where people start throwing things at police.  People were still out with their kids.  Some people almost complain that May 1st is getting too tame now, and that it's turned into just another street festival.  But I don't complain about it being a street festival.  I enjoy them.  And this one did not disappoint.