National Asparagus Month

May is National Asparagus Month – a month long celebration of this springtime vegetable. The asparagus season in Britain is short and only runs for just two months but during that time you can get lush green British asparagus, bursting full of flavour and full of health benefits.

It is a fantastic source of fibre as well as being rich in folic acid and vitamins A, B and C so what better to couple it with than another delicious British product – venison!

Cooked together you will have a meal jammed packed with not only flavour but vitamins and minerals – as well as being low in fat and cholesterol!

So in celebration of this iconic vegetable we have compiled a few easy-to-make, yet tasty recipes using our prime venison - just click on the links to get the full recipe details.

This simple recipe uses our tender venison steaks and is perfect as a starter or just a light meal.

Using our venison escalopes (thinly sliced) this is a perfect recipe for a weekday treat - quick to prepare and full of goodness.

A fantastic recipe, courtesy of James Martin, using a rich wine and chocolate sauce with buttered asparagus all coming together to create a sumptuous dish.

1.    It is a member of the lily family.

2.    It was first documented in 300BC in Egypt and is said to have arrived in Britain with the romans.

3.    As well as green, asparagus comes in the shades of purple and red, which turn green when cooked. Most British asparagus is green.

4.    In Thailand and Vietnam asparagus is also known as ‘European bamboo shoots’

5.    Each crop is in the ground for ten years and takes three years to grow to maturity before harvest.

6.    You normally harvest around one tonne of asparagus per one acre of land!

7.    The season for asparagus traditionally runs from St George’s Day to the Summer Solstice.

8.    White asparagus is grown by creating mounts of soil around the spears as they grown, shielding them from the sunlight and thus resulting in their blanched, pale colour. This is a very labour intensive farming method however as they need to be watched constantly.

9.    Asparagus is considered a difficult food to pair with wine as it contains a sulphur compound which gives wine a metallic taste.

10.  Asparagus is said to have aphrodisiac properties – although this has never been proven!!

So enjoy National Asparagus Month and cook up some lovely asparagus related food treats.