Asparagus: one of the seasonal delights of the year

English asparagus is one of the culinary delights of the year. Green, white, steamed or raw, with a hint of butter or doused in hollandasie; now is the time to eat as much as possible

English asparagus’s growing season traditionally spans St George’s Day (23 April) to the longest day (21 June). Nothing beats it. It feels quintessentially native and provides a delicious, fresh, green flavour.

Asparagus was first introduced by the Romans. This young shoot from a cultivated plant of the lily family came back to our shores in the reign of Henry VIII. Such was its popularity that by the 18th century we grew more asparagus than any other country.

What makes English asparagus so special?

What makes homegrown English asparagus so special is its freshness compared to spears flown thousands of miles from South America. Growers testify that the spears taste best of all shortly after cutting, with all their mineral flavours and sugars intact. If you happen to live near a farm shop or grower, you can enjoy asparagus fresh from the field; the best shops strive to get it on to the shelves within a day of picking. Look out for firm spears with tightly furled tips. (Read: how to grow your own asparagus.)

The Vale of Evesham is one of the historic centres of cultivation of English asparagus. There, you still get half-acre growers who sell at the gate. This beautiful part of England hosts an Asparagus Festival that includes a charity auction. Highlight of the sale is a “hundred” of grass (the traditional 120 spears). These are still tied in withy stems (willow stalks) that are picked and buried underground over the winter to make them supple, then stripped to make twine to tie the spears.

How to cook English asparagus

Asparagus is best cooked and eaten simply. You don’t require an asparagus steamer. (Find all The Field’s asparagus recipes here.) Just lay the spears in a large frying pan with a lid, pouring hot water on to the stalks and boiling quickly with the lid on until the spears go bright green (no more than five minutes). Boiling and steaming are not the only ways. Tossing the spears in oil and char-grilling or quickly roasting in the oven also works well. When wonderfully fresh, nothing beats simply melted butter and a little light seasoning with English asparagus. (Try our recipe for pan-fried pigeon breast with asparagus.)

Another traditional growing area is the north-west. The plant likes the sandy soil in the fields amid inland dunes around Formby (the plant likes sandy soil). Local grower Andrew Pimbley says there’s a reason the season ends on the longest day: if you don’t stop cutting the spears for food, the plant’s ferny tops won’t grow to replenish the crown with nutrients. These enable it to produce healthy, fat spears the following year.

What goes well with asparagus?

What to drink with your asparagus? In keeping with the St George’s Da theme, Jonathan Ray recommends a fine English Bacchus as the liquid accompaniment. He says: “Tuffon Hall ‘Amelie’ Bacchus from Essex is a great place to start. It is all fresh, lively and full of elderflower. At the other end of the scale there’s the mighty Chapel Down Kit’s Coty Bacchus from Kent, wild fermented and oak-aged but still retaining that inimitable elderflower zest.”

Love English asparagus?

It is often said that asparagus is an aphrodisiac. Why not try our oyster and asparagus recipe and find out! Its appearance is certainly ‘suggestive’ and most plants grown these days are male because they produce the most vigorous, thrusting spears. Furthermore, asparagus has a good whack of folates. Folic acid is thought to benefit sperm and is one of the few micronutrients recommended as a supplement to expectant mothers.

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This article was originally published in 2014 and has been updated.