It’s funny how you’ve eaten a vegetable for years and thought you knew it reasonably well, and then you change venues and discover that it actually looks completely different there? That was my experience with asparagus. The area I come from is a big asparagus growing region. From late April through May, you can buy asparagus literally everywhere, and people do excursions to buy it or just go someplace and eat it. The kind you exclusively see there is WHITE. It basically looks like ivory. And consequently in my mind, asparagus was always WHITE until we moved to the States.
Here I discovered that asparagus is actually GREEN (duh!), and later an asparagus-growing friend explained to me that the white ivory color is typically achieved by covering the emerging asparagus in dirt, which prevents it from building chlorophyll. It’s apparently fairly tricky to do (which explains the horrendous prices you sometimes have to contend with in Germany), and so here people usually don’t bother. Also, you have to peel your asparagus no matter what, where the green kind you can typically eat “as is”.
Just like with other foods one is used to from the Heimat, people start to obsess about them if they aren’t available elsewhere. I vividly recall what could be referred to now in the age of Facebook as a German flash mob when a local grocery chain had WHITE asparagus on its shelves a couple of years ago. People descended on the local store and bought it by the case. 
[Here’s what my friend Kiri, a fellow German blogger, had to say about this veggie a few weeks ago.]
Personally, I’m so used to the green stuff now that I no longer crave the white variety, but every once in a while I can’t help myself. When that same store had white asparagus a couple of weeks ago, I bought three pounds and went to work.
In my region you simply cook it in salt water and typically eat it with pancakes and preferably Black Forest ham, raw and cooked, covered with an Hollandaise sauce made with the broth from the vegetables. It’s a simple, but very delicious affair.
Have you had white asparagus before? How did you like it? Do you prefer the green variety instead?
- clarified butter
- chopped chives for garnish
- 1½ tablespoons* flour
- 3 tablespoons* asparagus broth
- 1 teaspoon* vinegar
- 1 teaspoon* lemon juice
- 5 egg yolks
- salt
- ½ liter (2 cups) asparagus broth
- 90 g (6½ tsp) butter, cut into small flakes
- Peel the asparagus carefully. Be sure not to break the stalks. Cut off the ends where the asparagus was severed originally, they tend to dry out.
- Bring about 4 quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add salt.
- Bundle about 1 lb of asparagus each with a plain, white cotton yarn. Carefully place them in the boiling water and cook just to the point where they are tender but still have “bite”. This takes about 15 – 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your asparagus.
- Turn them onto a warming plate, remove the yarn and pour a little bit of clarified butter on top. Serve garnished with chopped chives.
- In a double boiler, combine the flour and first part of the liquid. Stir until it forms a smooth paste.
- Add the vinegar and lemon juice.
- Slowly add the egg yolks.
- Add salt and rest of the asparagus broth.
- Slowly mix in the butter.
- Place a few slices of ham on a pancake, top with a few asparagus and roll in. Ladle the Hollandaise on top & enjoy!
this has always been my favorite as a kid so yummy
if you cant find white asparagus they sell it in a jar in the stores
THank you! Yeah, we’ve gotten it at Aldi’s…
This looks amazing–I always love traveling to Germany during asparagus season. I’ve never eaten it with these little pancakes, though.
Cucina49 recently posted..When Life Gives You Lemons
Thank you! Everybody has their own special way of eating these, I think. The cookbook is featuring a kind of funnel cake called “Strübli”, which is made from some sort of thick pancake batter. They taste pretty much like pancakes, too. I’ve only ever eaten them with pancakes.
I haven’t tried white asparagus as its quite difficult to find around here. I love the spread, I’m sure this made for a fabulous meal.
Baker Street recently posted..Blueberry Almond Pound Cake
Thanks! Yeah, I get my hands on it here only every leap year or so. And as other people here have pointed out, other than the visual difference – the taste is pretty much like the green ones.
This looks so fresh and clean looking, white and stubtle colours. Love this recipe!
Raymund recently posted..Japanese Braised Pork Belly (Buta no kakuni)
Thanks! White asparagus is a really yummy dish.
I bought some white asparagus for a crudite tray many years ago…it tasted pretty much like the green but it made a nice contrast to the brighter veggies. Your dish looks delicious, Sofie…and your photos are lovely~
Liz recently posted..Dulce de Leche Brownies…Holiday Recipe Club~
It’s all in the marketing, I guess. LOL
This dish would make Brian so happy! We both love asparagus and eat tons of eat. The local gourmet places carry the white and I’ve tried it a couple of times but don’t notice enough difference to justify the higher price. We’re used to the green and eat it both raw and cooked.
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I would say that the only difference is that the green doesn’t look good as “cream of asparagus” soup.
These are simply gorgeous Sofie!
I have never seen the white asparagus anywhere in “real life”…only on pictures on blogs! Once again, your dish is divine!
Jen @ Juanita’s Cocina recently posted..What’s Been Happenin’ In The Cocina ~ 5/4/12
Thanks! Much appreciated! It’s not very unusual to me, but almost impossible to find around here – hence the “flash mob” a while back.
This is such an exotic dish with lots of delicious elements and a great combination of flavours my friend!
Your crepe batter looks perfect!
And white asparagus? A must try!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thank you! This dish brings back fond memories, even though I was lacking the raw/smoked Black Forest ham – I could only find the cooked version. :-/
There are certain colored veggies that are hard to find here-white asparagus is one of them. Also, I am still trying to find a local farmer to save back some green tomatoes for me.
Anyhow this does look like an upscale meal that would be perfect for brunch. I have never seen hollandaise used with pancakes, but it sounds like a delicious change from the syrupy coated pancakes. Great recipe, enjoy the weekend!
Tina@flourtrader recently posted..Uncorked Blackberry Coolies
Do you have a good recipe for green tomatoes? The only thing I’ve ever had w/ green tomatoes were the proverbial fried ones, and the version I had was not very good. I’d be interested in trying something new!
i’ve seen white asparagus, but i’ve never had it because i’m able to get green asparagus much cheaper at the farmers market. but now i’m really intrigued by the differences between the two, so maybe if i see it i will suck up the price tag and try it out. those pancakes with ham and hollandaise sound really delicious!
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Kiri said the white version is a wee bit milder, even though to me they both taste almost the same. I think part of it is aesthetics and tradition.
Bei uns gab’s immer nur Spargel mit 6 verschiedenen Schinkensorten und Butter. Pfannkuchen sehen aber auch lecker aus!
Kiri W. recently posted..Daikon – Japanese Radish & A Recipe
Das Kochbuch sagt Strübli, aber das sah so involviert aus – sind ja irgendwo nur Funnel Cakes, aber ich hab das schonmal probiert, und was es auch immer wurde, Strübli waren’s nicht.
Bei uns gab’s deshalb immer nur Pfannekuchen. Ähnlicher Geschmack, weniger Arbeit. 6 Schinkensorten?? OK, also roher Schinken, gekochter Schinken, Prosciutto und dann was? LOL