Asparagus season varies by climate, with northern latitudes like Iowa having a season in early June and tropical regions like Hawaii having a year-round season. Asparagus takes three years to mature and can produce bountiful harvests for up to 15 years. White and purple asparagus are also grown.
Asparagus season varies according to the climate in which it is grown, although it typically ripens in early summer. This is early June in northern latitudes such as the US state of Iowa in hardiness zones 4 to 5, and even earlier in southern US states such as Texas with a hardiness zone 6 to 9. In tropical regions of the world such as the U.S. state of Hawaii or warm Mediterranean climates such as those of southern Italy and Greece, where hardiness zones range from 8 to 10, asparagus season is year-round. The height of maturity for the plant, however, lasts only 90 days per season, so crops must be planted incrementally to receive a consistent year-round harvest.
The asparagus species, Asparagus officinalis, is a perennial plant native to temperate climates and is considered a spring vegetable, although it takes three years to mature before it can be relied on to produce bountiful harvests lasting up to 15 years or more. The plant was cultivated at least 2,000 years ago by ancient Egyptian culture and grows wild in many regions of the world from China to Peru, both of which are major global producers of the crop as of 2011. Cultivated versions of the plant have been farmed selectively over the centuries to produce a more vigorous asparagus season, however, with some types of asparagus crops producing shoots so large that three of them weigh 1 pound (0.45 kilograms).
Although asparagus takes a full three years to mature from seed, yearling plants known as crowns are usually used to start a crop. These plants can be harvested lightly in the second asparagus season, although it is only recommended to do so for 3-4 weeks during the height of their growth. In the third and subsequent years, asparagus crops can be harvested as soon as they ripen in the spring and early summer. If the plant can grow too long in the summer without being harvested, it will go to seed and won’t produce any more edible stems until the following year.
Two other types of asparagus that are widely grown aside from the typical green variety are white asparagus and purple asparagus. These strains have the same harvest season as the asparagus and differ only in appearance and size. White asparagus is produced by keeping the plant’s stems buried under mounds of earth which prevents them from being infused with green chlorophyll from interacting with sunlight and gives the plant’s shoots a more delicate and softer texture. Purple asparagus was first grown in Italy and is a larger-than-normal variety with a sweeter flavor. It is a hybrid plant in which the lance-shaped edges of the stems are noticeably purple and is called Violetto d/Albenga after the northwestern region of Albenga located along the Gulf of Genoa.
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