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Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 6:01 pm Post subject: Re: Asparagus...

sean wrote:

Saw the first Cornish asparagus in the greengrocer's this morning.

Did you buy any of the 'foreign' asparagus then?

jamanda
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Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35082
Location: Devon

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 9:51 pm Post subject:

tigger wrote:

Picked a bunch of wild asparagus last sunday in the woods.

I only know one place that grows over here, and I think it's protected.

jamanda
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Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35082
Location: Devon

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 9:53 pm Post subject: Re: Asparagus...

Treacodactyl wrote:

sean wrote:

Saw the first Cornish asparagus in the greengrocer's this morning.

Did you buy any of the 'foreign' asparagus then?

No, because I was doing tea (Chicken curry and DS saag - ramsoms and ground elder). But I'm sre we'll having some before long.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 10:52 pm Post subject:

Jamanda wrote:

tigger wrote:

Picked a bunch of wild asparagus last sunday in the woods.

I only know one place that grows over here, and I think it's protected.

Keep an eye out for overgrown sparrowgrass plants around hedges, old railway lines etc. wherever in the country it is farmed, it isn't that uncommon to encounter 'domestic' asparagus self seeded in the wild.

Ours in the garden is throwing up plenty of spears at the moment.

jamanda
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Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35082
Location: Devon

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 10:59 pm Post subject:
But make sure it isn't this. If you are inland you'll be fine.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 11:03 pm Post subject:

Jamanda wrote:

But make sure it isn't this. If you are inland you'll be fine.

A real rarity, but quite a different looking plant to regular sparrowgrass.

jamanda
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Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35082
Location: Devon

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 11:09 pm Post subject:
That photo doesn't look anything like what I saw - and I was with the official recorders for the area. This was like asparagus shoots, but spindlier and more prostate. Maybe that's what the shoots look like when they come out.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 11:19 pm Post subject:

I've never seen the young shoots of that form; the adult frondy bits are rather different to cultivated asparagus though. The leaflets seem much more densely packed. Fascinated to hear that the younger shoots are more like 'asparagus' though. I suppose thats what you'd expect.

Must be damned hard to find it in the wild when the shoots are so young, such an inconspicuous little thing. Presumably you had a good idea where you were looking?

jamanda
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Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35082
Location: Devon

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 08 11:30 pm Post subject:

cab wrote:

Yes - we were looking for a few very rare things that lived in that area - a watercrow's foot and a tiny little pearlwort. We found them all.

Or rather the experts did.

tigger

Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 725
Location: Bologna (Italy)

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 08 8:20 am Post subject:
quite common here. you sometimes see it on the roadsides too but I prefer to pick it in the woods away from the exhaust fumes!! It's much skinnier than cultivated asparagus, very spindley so it's often difficult to see. lovely in a risotto or omelette.

Vic

Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 387
Location: Sherborne, Dorset

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 08 10:58 am Post subject:

tigger wrote:

Altedo?

Is that a place, or a type of risotto?? It was in someone's home (well, sort of) up in the hills near Sasso Marconi. Fantastic spot and such a wonderful time of year to be in Italy, even tho I was working.

thos

Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 1139
Location: Jauche, Duchy of Brabant (Bourgogne-ci) and Charolles, Duchy of Burgundy (Bourgogne-�a)

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 08 11:44 am Post subject:
The local Carrefour is selling asparagus with no provenance and no date and it looks ancient - the very Fanny Cradock of asparagus. Fortunately there seem to be no takers.

tigger

Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 725
Location: Bologna (Italy)

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 08 1:27 pm Post subject:

Vic wrote:

tigger wrote:

Altedo?

Town I live in! home to the "Festa del Asparago " - the 3rd weekend in May. I put a link on about it at about this time last year

Vic

Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 387
Location: Sherborne, Dorset

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 08 11:12 am Post subject:
A Festa del Asparago!! The Italians really do have their priorities right...

tigger

Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 725
Location: Bologna (Italy)

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 08 12:52 pm Post subject:
but they sometimes go over the top. I have seen (not tasted) asparagus ice-cream that weekend too

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