Spargelzeit in Germany

Winters can be unbearable in many places but in central Germany they’re mostly just rainy. When spring comes around in mid-March people start perking up with the longer days and warmer weather. Especially anticipated is the arrival of the Spargel or white asparagus. Special dinners and even festivals are held to honor the arrival of what's known as the Königliches Gemüse.

This year Food-Travels.com visited a Spargel farm nearby the university town of Darmstadt just south of the international banking city of Frankfurt. Darmstadt is particularly well known for its Spargel fields and Georg Peter Merlau and his brother have followed in the farming footsteps of their father. The Merlau family’s fields are planted with Spargel and the small, delicately sweet Erdbeeren, German strawberries.

Merlau’s operation produces more than 400 tons of Spargel annually on around 100 hectares of land. Merlau’s facilities are run like clockwork with the help of his wife. The Spargel is grown within walking distance from the production area and is unearthed and cleaned for same-day sale. Customers can also purchase on-site. The Spargel must be peeled before it can be cooked and eaten.

Working the fields

The entire process of growing Spargel is painstaking. After planting the seed the Spargel takes approximately 36 months before it can be harvested. In order to prevent photosynthesis and thus green asparagus, the Spargel is denied light and is grown covered in soil. In comparison to green asparagus, Spargel is more delicate and sweet in flavor and should be cooked and eaten as close to its being harvested as possible.

Merlau’s fields are all farmed under the Integrierter Anbau European Union Regulations, a kind of middle ground between certified organic and modern farming. The use of any chemicals is carefully regulated and is permissible only when parasites are visibly present and alternative organic treatments have been unsuccessful. Fertilizers are allowed only in carefully observed quantities.

Each season countless stalks are harvested daily by workers who come to Merlau’s farm primarily from Croatia. Most of his help has been returning to the farm year after year and his foreman, Davorin Gelemanovic from the town of Nova Gradišk showed us around the fields. Gelemanovic has been working with Merlau for twelve seasons and he knows the fields like the back of his hand. By simply looking at the small breaks in the soil he’s able to determine when each stalk will be ready. Gelemanovic told us that working with Merlau is like working with family. Everyone's on a first name basis, a rarity in Germany where even coworkers speak to one another formally after many years. Merlau even decided to learn Croatian so he could “better communicate and understand his staff.”

Spargel is perhaps nowhere more popular than in Germany where it’s known as the Königliches Gemüse, literally the royal vegetable. It has been cultivated since before Ancient Roman times and was a favorite of Frankfurt’s native son, poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who crowned it König der Gemüse, king of the vegetables.

Production & serving

After being individually harvested each stalk is sent to be cleaned and packed at the on-sight facilities. Countless stalks are processed daily at the season's height which usually extends from April until June. Merlau noticed that the season began about two weeks earlier this year due to the relatively warm winter and the early arrival of spring. The season’s duration is about 10 weeks.

With German communities growing in size in Spain and Asia and more people coming to live and work in Germany, Merlau has found himself filling orders to be shipped the same day to as faraway places as Hong Kong. Merlau has no interest in jarring the Spargel for export, telling us bluntly “then there’s no taste”.

Spargel is usually accompanied by Schinken, boiled or cured ham, and Salzkartoffeln, peeled potatoes cut into apricot-sized wedges which are boiled and then tossed in butter, salt & pepper and parsley. The Spargel is prepared with Hollandaise sauce and/or clarified butter. The finished dish is best served with a crisp German white wine such as Riesling, Müller-Thurgau or Grauburgunder.  

Spargel is sold in all German open air markets through the end of the season in June and is graded in terms of its size and quality. Whenever it's spring, you can guarantee that Merlau’s farm will be running at full capacity. Merlau admitted that once the season’s complete he takes a short vacation with his wife and young children. When asked about the Erdbeeren fields harvested in the following weeks he said, “You'll have to meet with my brother.”