Anyone who enjoys eating asparagus in Austria knows where to turn: the Marchfeld. The Marchfeld's more than 2,200 hours of sunshine a year and slightly sandy soils are what give excellent white and green Marchfeld asparagus its incomparable flavor. It too is a protected brand in the EU.
A history of asparagus cultivation:
The status of asparagus as a culinary delectation began in Ancient Egypt. Pharaoh Ikhnaton and his wife Nefertiti declared asparagus a food of the gods. The Ancient Romans wrote the first major chapter in asparagus cultivation. The oldest preserved instructions date from this time, from Cato the Elder around 175 BC. And it can be verified for later centuries that (green) asparagus was always on the table at lavish and elaborate feasts Roman banquets.
Asparagus began to appear on the tables of European royalty from the 17th c onward. Select guests were treated to asparagus from their host's own garden as a special delicacy. The mid-18th c marked the birth of blanched asparagus and the start of this vegetable’s triumphal march. Asparagus has been grown in the Marchfeld since the end of the 19th c. Today it is a plant cultivated in all countries with a moderate and warm climate and highly esteemed as a delicacy.
