Green or white?

The Austrians, like the Germans, have a penchant for asparagus, especially forced asparagus, the thick, pale almost translucent spears which are kept white by depriving it of light are a common sight at the moment in the supermarkets, market stalls, and local greengrocers.
We bought some, to try as an experiment last night. Now, it turns out, we found out part way through preparation and cooking it, that preparation and cooking white asparagus differs quite a lot from that of green asparagus.

While green asparagus can be steamed to a tender delicacy in a couple of minutes, white apsaragus needs about 15 minutes steaming or boiling to stop it becoming stringy. It also needs peeling, which came as an even greater surprise!

Thank goodness at times like this for the omnipresence of the Internet. A lesson to take from this is that seemingly inconsequential blog ramblings can actually be very useful. So think on!

We had it served with serrano ham and a sauce made from mayonnaise, yoghurt and fresh dill (a Tim creation), and it was delicious!

NB after effects of white asparagus are just as pungent as green.