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ASPARAGUS VARIETIES
There exist, according to the norms set by the European Union, four varieties of these liliaceous of the
lily and leek family: white asparagus, green asparagus, the violet and green asparagus and the violet
asparagus.
The asparagus colouring depends primarily on the tillage mode:
The white asparagus, most traditional (70% of The asparagus with violet tip (20% of the
the production), is produced in “ridged” tillage, production) bores the earth hillock: the tip
safe from air and light (one recovers asparagus then takes a mauve or violet colour. Its flavour
with earth as it grows). is generally close to that of the white
asparagus.
The green asparagus (approximately 10% of the Lastly, the asparagus known as “green-violet”,
total production) does not require ridging. It semi ridged, whose stem remains white (the
grows in open air, and owes its colouring with a standard requires that a third at least of the
process of chlorophyll synthesis, which occurs asparagus be green-coloured)
under the action of the light. Its colour is then
uniformly green (standard green asparagus
“Californian”) and its taste, marked, a little
different from that of white asparaguses.
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