• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

The Living on Earth Almanac

Air Date: Week of



Transcript

CURWOOD: It's Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. And a one, and a two, and a three...

(Music up and under: The Oompah Band, "Lustig Ist Das Zigeunerleben")

CURWOOD: It's National Asparagus Month. And this member of the lily family is at the peak of its growing season. Now, you may think this bushel of sprouts may be just another green in your local grocery store, but in Europe it's the prize of the platter. For example, from April to June, German restaurants display special spargelkartes, asparagus menus, along with their regular culinary fare. The Germans call asparagus the aristocrat of vegetables. That's because the season for fresh white asparagus is so short, it's the most expensive vegetable on the market. The asparagus frenzy is so great that last year Berlin's city government even established spargelschulen, asparagus schools, for unemployed Germans to learn how to harvest asparagus. They pick the white delicacy underground, where it's purposefully grown to prevent any green chlorophyll from forming. For some people, eating this royal vegetable can produce a less than regal odor. Asparagus contains a small amount of the same sulfur compound that makes eggs rotten and skunks stinky. And many people find it can give their urine a peculiar scent. But not everyone. Thanks to genetic variation, some folks can consume asparagus without generating an unwelcome aroma, and others can't smell it at all. For them, asparagus might as well be a rose. And for this week, that's the Living on Earth Almanac.

(Music up and under)

 

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

Creating positive outcomes for future generations.

Innovating to make the world a better, more sustainable place to live. Listen to the race to 9 billion

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth