White asparagus comes to Israel

May 25, 2009 at 8:00 am | Tags: ,

white-asparagus

For the past few weeks I’ve been working on a side project, and it’s finally been published. The whole thing started after I noticed a few lonely bunches of white asparagus at the Carmel market, as if the sellers were testing the waters to see if anyone would buy. This was the first time I’d seen it fresh since we were in Italy last year. After encountering it again (and finally purchasing) at the Tel Aviv port farmer’s market, my curiosity was piqued: Until now, white asparagus was virtually impossible to find in Israel.

It turns out that’s going to change. As I found out (and as my article explains), the Agriculture Ministry is hoping to launch a program to teach farmers to grow white asparagus. This means that you can expect to see more of it in the comping years, and that you’ll be able to enjoy it for less than the cost of a trip to Europe. Exciting stuff.

So here you go: The PDF version and the JPEG of the newspaper page, and the online version (sadly, without the photos).

Asparagus recipes to follow in the coming days.


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3 Comments »

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  1. Bravo!
    I carefully carried a bunch, 4 years back, from La Bukeria market in Barcelona, all the way to Tel Aviv. It reached safely, and was the last time i saw white asparagus.
    Great project!

    Comment by Aviv — May 28, 2009 #

  2. I think you’re forgetting the most recent time when you saw white asparagus, which is when you were at the Tel Aviv port farmer’s market with me :-)

    Comment by Liz — May 29, 2009 #

  3. [...] This mild-flavored dish plays with colors — white asparagus, purple potatoes. OK, maybe for some of you white asparagus isn’t such an oddity, but around here it is. In fact, it’s just beginning to make its presence felt in the market, as I described in a newspaper article. [...]

    Pingback by Cafe Liz » White asparagus and purple potatoes with emmenthal and fennel -- Kosher vegetarian recipes from my kitchen in Tel Aviv — June 16, 2009 #

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