Schrobenhausener Spargel

Appearance & taste

Schrobenhausener Spargel are the edible shoots of the asparagus plant (Asparagus officinalis), sold peeled or unpeeled. It is prepared according to the UNECE standard for asparagus. Its taste is marked by a typically strong, slightly nutty asparagus aroma.

Each package contains only asparagus from the region of the same quality, colour group and size, and the visible part must be representative of the entire contents. Besides the name “Schrobenhausener Spargel”, “Spargel aus dem Schrobenhausener Land” and “Spargel aus dem Anbaugebiet Schrobenhausen” are also protected.

Production

The asparagus may only be grown on the delimited land, in an environmentally friendly way and according to the rules of good professional practice. It is cut once or twice a day. Immediately after harvest the asparagus is shock-chilled, properly cut to length and sorted, and then stored at 1 to 2 °C and high humidity. The cold chain at the producer must not be interrupted. According to the specification, this keeps the asparagus fresh whatever route it is sold through.

Origin & history

The area covers the municipalities of Aichach, Aresing, Berg im Gau, Brunnen, Gachenbach, Geisenfeld, Gerolsbach, Hohenwart, Inchenhofen, Karlskron, Kühbach, Langenmosen, Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Pörnbach, Pöttmes, Reichertshofen, Rohrbach, Schrobenhausen and Waidhofen. It lies at about 400 m above sea level; the mean annual temperature is 7.5 °C, and on average 827 mm of rain falls a year, 280 mm of it between June and August. Wind-blown sand soils predominate, merging into light Tertiary soils with a typical proportion of silt and loam. They warm up quickly in spring, are easy to work and let the spears grow quickly and straight. Asparagus is grown only on sand and on slightly loamy, loamy and heavy loamy sand.

According to the specification, the oldest known document on asparagus growing around Schrobenhausen is an article in the Wochenblatt of 12 July 1851. In 1856 Count von Sandizell supplied asparagus to the manorial kitchen in Munich, and in 1913 Christian Schad from Groß-Gerau laid out a first large-scale field plantation. By 1933 the reputation of Schrobenhausener Spargel had reached as far as Munich; in the 1950s many smaller farms grew it, and the growing area saw its greatest boom in the mid-1970s and late 1980s. Since 1975 a Schrobenhausen asparagus queen has been crowned every year, and Schrobenhausen is home to the European Asparagus Museum.