Spargel

More specifically Weiss Spargel...or white asparagus in English...was in season when we were on the trip and was available as a special for every single meal that we had. Many of our group dinners started off with cream of white asparagus soup (talk about wonderful!). I ate it in spaghetti carbonara, as a side dish to pork or fish, raw in salads, pickled with the saurkraut, and my favorite, deep fried as the main dish. One of our vegetarian options (which I didn't get) had asparagus with a butter sauce served over potatoes...it looked heavenly. I even saw some white asparagus desserts, but didn't try any being too tempted by the other seasonal produce--strawberries.

The Europeans grow their asparagus either underground in caves, in ditches along the side of the road with holes dug out for the plant that are covered by black tarps or in rows in vast fields covered with black tarps. These coverings, of course, keep the sun from developing the chlorophyl in the plants and results in a beautiful spear that is creamy white and very very tender. Some of the spears I ate were a minimum thickness of about 3/4" and were about 10 inches long and tender all the way down. Tasty and wonderful.