Asparagus

If you are already a fan of dunking tenderly cooked asparagus tips into your favourite sauce or melted butter you will have no problem understanding why this remarkable vegetable has sparked strong emotions for over 25 thousand years. As the centuries have gone by, poetry has been written about it, paintings have been created because of it, prescriptions have been made for its healing properties, ancient peoples have offered it to their gods, great kings through the ages have fallen in love with it and, on TV cookery shows, people are raving about it once again.

The Ancient Greeks were the first to fall in love with the asparagus; they first used it for medicinal purposes for things such as bee stings, heart trouble and toothache. The name asparagus simply means sprout or shoot; which is what they called it before they discovered it tastes pretty nice too. The Roman’s began farming asparagus and discovered around 250BC that it was at its most delicious when it was cooked for only a couple of minutes; hence the old Roman phrase (coined by Emperor Caesar Augustus), ‘velocius quam asparagi coquantur,’ or ‘faster than you can cook asparagus,’ which was used a phrase to describe something to be done with speed. The Romans were so in love with the vegetable that they couldn’t bear to only eat it in season and devised a way to eat it all year round; they farmed huge amounts and filled wagons with surplus asparagus to be carted up to the mountain and preserved using ice. They would order down a shipment of fresh, frozen, asparagus to be cooked just right for their lavish banquets in honour of the memory of Epicurus (see left), the Greek philosopher.

The Ancient Egyptians also thought of asparagus as a food of luxury and often offered it to their gods at special festivals. Since the early days of mankind the humble asparagus has been grown everywhere, it can be grown pretty much anywhere in the world except Antarctica. It is a member of the lily family, same as garlic and onions, and has been renowned for a long time for its healing properties. It comes in one main variety with three types; green, white and purple, and is one of the most nutritionally balanced vegetables available. Ancient Chinese herbalists used dried and powdered asparagus to make a special tea to treat arthritis and infertility.

Early Native Americans used it as a diuretic to cure bladder problems; modern doctors and scientists agree this pointy little green vegetable is an excellent diuretic. It’s also full of fibre, packed full of vitamins A, B1, B2, C, and almost bursting with minerals, such as calcium, and phosphorous, both of which help build strong bones and teeth, as well as essential amino acids, the building blocks of life. As well as being a superb source of vitamins, it’s low in calories, contains no fat or cholesterol and is also low in sodium.

Studies of the vegetable have also shown that asparagus extracts have a beneficial effect on the heart muscle, as well as mildly sedative quality, making it ideal for reducing stress by calming the nerves. Asparagus has also been widely thought of as an aphrodisiac in the past, no one seems sure why; perhaps it’s more because of its slightly phallic shape than any love-inducing qualities within the vegetable.