Just what is it about white asparagus that makes it so special compared with its green counterparts? First of all, it’s the price. While you can grab a packet of green asparagus at a Hong Kong supermarket for just HK$24 (US$3), the white version sells for about HK$235 per pound. They are also worlds apart when it comes to flavour. While green asparagus is crunchy and slightly bitter with some grassy notes, the white vegetable has a sweetness and nuttiness, with a tender texture. Green asparagus has been around for thousands of years; it was portrayed as an offering on an Egyptian frieze (a band of painted or sculpted decoration) dating back to 3000BC. In Greek and Roman societies, the vegetable was used in medicine, having been credited with diuretic and aphrodisiac properties. A recipe for cooking it is even to be found in Apicius’ De re coquinaria, Book III , one of the oldest surviving cookbooks, dating back to Roman times. White asparagus, however, didn’t appear until the 17th century, in France, when the method of using soil to surround the asparagus spears as they push up out of the ground to shade them from sunlight-induced photosynthesis, which turns them green, was developed. This technique soon spread to Germany and other parts of Europe. Luckily for modern palates, the esteemed vegetable is widely grown around the world, most notably in South America and Europe. “The season starts in France and Italy,” says Claudio Favero, chef de cuisine at Sabatini Ristorante Italiano , in Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon. “The ones from the Black Forest of Germany come a little later because of the cold. There isn’t a big difference between the asparagus from the European countries but we prefer the German one mainly for its sweetness, larger size and consistency of quality. “We use the highest grade of asparagus at Sabatini’s and 2022 is a fantastic harvest of exceptional quality.” Over at Petrus , in Admiralty on Hong Kong Island, French white asparagus features in a tart with smoked eel and blood orange sabayon sauce. Layers of eel and sectioned white asparagus lie on top of a buckwheat tart. The citrus notes of the sauce draw contrast with the sugars in the vegetable, resulting in a bright bouquet on the palate, making it a perfect dish for the warmer months. According to Favero, the plant is best sampled simply poached with hollandaise sauce or in a risotto. “We use 36-month Parmigiano Reggiano in our risotto and it really teases out the sweetness of the asparagus.”