The Season for Sparrow Grass

Of all the lovely vegetables that pop up in the spring, my favorite is sparrow grass, more commonly known now as asparagus. This delightful vegetable has been popular since ancient times, appearing in the first known cookbook  (Apicus’s De Re Coquinaria Book III, 3rd Century BCE). It was undoubtedly cultivated even earlier, perhaps even as early as 2000 BCE in Egypt, where asparagus seeds have been found in tombs.

Asparagus was popular  in the Ancient Mediterranean world. Both Greek and Arab writers claimed it was an aphrodisiac, possibly due to the shape. Romans dried it, froze it, cooked it, and ate it fresh, claiming the shoots were good for the digestion. For a time in the late middle ages, asparagus was considered a delicacy, eaten primarily by royalty. However, common people enjoyed it too. In 1677, Samuel Pepys wrote that he had purchased a bundle of sparrow grass from the market in Fenchurch Street, London, for 1s 6d*. (Brunning). Nearly all of my period cookbook (reprints and facsimiles from the 18th and 19th centuries) offer recipes for asparagus.

In addition to the delicious taste, asparagus is also known as a diuretic. Less appealing is the effect asparagus has on the urine of many, but not all eaters. Ben Franklin wrote about the ‘disagreeable odor’ of urine after consumption.

Prior to the Norman Invasion in 1066 CE (Old English) what we know as asparagus, was called eorthnafela (earth navel). The name ‘asparagus’ is Latin, coming from Greek ‘aspharagos’, possibly deriving from the Persian word, ‘asparag’, meaning ‘shoot’. By the14th century (Middle English) it was called asperages. Sometimes, people assumed that ‘asperages’ was plural, and left off the ‘s’ for the singular form, calling a single green spear  ‘aspergy’. By the 16th century (Early Modern English) the word had morphed into ‘sperach’ or ‘sperage’. Around this same time, educated writers went back to the Latin form, asparagus.’ but common folk began pronouncing it ‘sparrow grass’, since that is what it sounds like, and the tall, slender shoots are somewhat grass-like. Though the edible shoots of asparagus do indeed look like some grasess, it turns out that this plant is actually a distant cousin of leeks and onions. Surprisingly, the Latin name won out in the end, so that now ‘asparagus’ is the most common word for this vegetable.

The following recipe is one of many similar examples for cooking asparagus in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Asparagus

Set a stew-pan with plenty of water on the fire, sprinkle a handful of salt in it, let it boil, and skim it, then put in the asparagus prepared thus: scrape all the stalks till they are perfectly clean; throw them into a pan of cold water as you scrape them; when they are all done, tie them in little bundles, of a quarter of a hundred each, with bass,* if you can get it, or tape*; cut off the stalks at the bottom, that they may be all of a length; when they are tender at the stalk, which will be in from twenty to thirty minutes, they are done enough. Great care must be taken to watch the exact time of their becoming tender; take them just at that instant, and they will have their true flavour and colour; a minute or two more boiling destroys both. While the asparagus is boiling, toast a slice of a loaf of bread, about a half an inch thick; brown it delicately on both sides; dip it lightly in the liquor the asparagus was boiled in, and lay it in the middle of a dish; pour some melted butter on the toast, and lay the asparagus upon it; let it project beyond the asparagus that the company may see there is a toast. Do not pour butter over them, but send some in a boat. (Randolph, 100-101)

This recipe seems unnecessarily complicated for the modern cook. Scraping the asparagus may be more useful with garden fresh asparagus, when the little leaves on the stalks are more likely to harbor dirt. Hannah Glasse suggests scraping the stalks so that they look white (35), though she is undoubtedly talking about the white variety of asparagus. In any case, I see no need to scrape well-washed stalks, as scraping makes no real difference in taste, color, or texture.

Likewise, tying the stalks in a bundle seems unnecessary. Perhaps the purpose is to make a neater, nicer-looking vegetable for serving. I boiled the asparagus as suggested, but normally I prefer steaming it in the microwave, a method obviously unknown to Colonial cooks. Again, the taste is the same, but it is easier to make sure the asparagus is crisp-tender, not over-cooked.  Hannah Glasse reiterates the idea that all ‘garden things’ should be cooked delicately:

Directions concerning Garden Things.                                                                                             Most people spoil garden things by over-boiling them. All things that are green should have a little crispness, for it they are over-boiled, they neither have any sweetness or beauty. (Glasse, 35)

Finally, modern consumers are not likely to enjoy slightly soggy toast as a base for the asparagus. Although I found the combination surprisingly tasty, I think toasted bread crumbs as a garnish will prove more palatable to people today.  Here then is a modernized version of asparagus which our forebears would recognize and enjoy as much as we do.

Wash 1 bunch of asparagus thoroughly. Trim the ends so the spears are all the same length. Place in a microwavable dish with a little water and a ¼ t. salt. Cover and microwave on high for 5 minutes. (Microwaves vary so you might check for tenderness after 3 minutes, adding more time as necessary.) Toast some whole wheat bread. Butter it and crumble it.  Lay the asparagus on a dish. Strew the bread crumbs over it, and serve.

___________

Notes:

* 1s 6d (One schilling, six pence) was about a day’s wages for a skilled tradesman in 1670 or almost $11.00 in today’s money.) See National Archives Currency Converter for  more information. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/#currency-result

** ‘bass’ is a type of straw of fiber used for tying, and tape is atrip of cloth for the same purpose. Surgical tape, the first adhesive-backed fabric strip, was invented in 1845)

____________

Brunning, Pam. “Asparagus: Liliaceae-Asparagacease.” Food and Wine. June 2010.page 6-7.

Glasse, Hannah. The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy: Excelling any Thing of the Kind ever yet published. Alexandria: Cottom and Stewart. 1805. (First Edition publishing in London, 1747. This edition reprint of 1st American Edition, 1805, by Applewood Books, 1997).

Randolph, Mary. The Virginia Housewife Or, Methodical Cook. Philadelphia: E. H. Butler & Co., 1860. (Facsimile by Dover Publications, 1993, with introduction by Janice Bluestein Longone.)