By Toni Dabbs

Germans love their asparagus. Not so much the green variety common in North America, but the creamy white kind grown under the soil to keep sunlight from giving it color. In Germany, asparagus season heralds the arrival of spring, from the first harvest in mid-April until June 24, the feast of St. John the Baptist. During this time, the slender spears take over homemade meals and restaurant menus, being served in every way from appetizers to desserts.

Not surprisingly, asparagus has become big business, with tourists coming from across Europe and even around the world to tour the fields, attend seminars, take cooking classes, dine on the crops and share in the celebration of what Germans have nicknamed “the royal vegetable.”

The roots of asparagus cultivation in Germany reach back to 1565, when it was listed as “delightful fare for lovers of food” in the Catalogue of Herbs and Trees in the Princely Pleasure Garden in Stuttgart. Duke Christoph von Wurttemberg, knowing that asparagus was favored in Europe’s most discriminating courts, ordered the vegetable to be planted in his garden. During the 17th century, Elector Palatine Karl Theodor included asparagus in the palace garden of his summer residence in Schwetzingen. Gradually, asparagus became a popular vegetable in royal kitchens of neighboring princedoms, but it remained a luxury available only to nobility until the mid-19th century.

Nowadays, Germans consume about 72,000 tons of asparagus per year. The country’s annual production of 57,000 tons accounts for only 79 per cent of this. An additional 15,000 tons must be imported from other places. Much of Germany’s asparagus production occurs in the Baden-Wurttemberg region, where the Baden Asparagus Route runs south of Heidelberg from Schwetzingen to Scherzheim, passing through Reilingen, Karlsruhe and Rastatt. Two of the country’s most popular asparagus festivals are held along the route, in Schwetzingen and Bruchsal.

The Schwetzingen festival, held the first weekend of each May, features an asparagus banquet in the garden of the elector’s residence plus concerts and theatrical performances in the castle’s rococo theater. A highlight is the crowning of the asparagus king or queen, whoever weighs in the heaviest stalk. The town also has a bronze memorial to the women who work in the fields and take the asparagus to market.

The Bruchsal festival, held the third weekend in May, is Europe’s largest asparagus festival. Visitors sample asparagus dishes prepared by local and international exhibitors and enjoy musical presentations. Worth seeing while there is the baroque palace, with its magnificent staircase.

Although Neudorf, the largest asparagus producing community in Baden-Wurttemberg, has its own asparagus festival in May, it might be better known for the Asparagus Cup. Winners of this handball tournament, held the third weekend in June, receive asparagus trophies, and visitors attending the event are treated to all things asparagus.

Asparagus peeling contests also are staged during the season, both in conjunction with festivals and on their own. Helmut Zipner, affectionately known in Germany as the asparagus Tarzan, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as peeling a ton of asparagus in 16 hours.