At grower Marc Goossens in Malderen the open ground season for asparagus was officially opened on April 25. He has an area of 15 hectares and supplies his asparagus to BelOrta and sells part through the farm shop. The event was organised by LAVA. Ilse Ceulemans indicates that this is the second time LAVA has organised this for asparagus. "We believe it's important to put this product in the spotlight in a festive manner, in particular as it has a real beginning and end. Many other fruits and vegetables are available all year round."
Marc Goossens shows how it's done.
Producer Marc indicates that the real volumes are still on their way. "At the moment we are harvesting around 100 kilos of asparagus per hectare. In the main period this is 300 to 400 kilo per hectare. When it's cold the asparagus grow much slower."
Queen of the vegetables
During the first official harvest there were two Londerzeel representatives present, Gerda Verhulst and Jozef de Borger. Monique Swinnen, representatives of Vlaams-Brabant, was also present. Gerda Verhulst gave a welcome speech in which she indicated that grower Marc Goossens is one of the largest in the region. "In the region of Kampenhout they have white gold and here we have the queen of the vegetables. The asparagus has a long history and was grown here in Roman times. Marc also sells crossed asparagus in his farm shop which is great news for us ladies," she laughed.
Left to right: Gerda, Monique, Marc and Jozef.
Monique Swinnen thanked LAVA for taking the initiative to bring this seasonal vegetable to the attention. She indicated that the Flemish area of asparagus decreased from around 650 hectares in the 50s to around 500 at the moment. "But the appreciation for this vegetable has doubled since then. Laughing, he said: "It's also a real model vegetable, delicious, healthy and full of fibre! Best crossed of course."
Monique Swinnen gives it a try.
Asparagus prices around Easter were very low due to the large forced production. "It was a disaster in terms of price," according to Marc. "Thankfully they rose after that and at the moment we are at a normal price level." He says not all catering is demanding asparagus until the end of the season, partially due to the season now being lengthened. "Restaurants usually put them on the menu until the end of May, but often not until the end of June. Yet there are chefs that are more creative and go further than serving asparagus Flemish style with Hollandaise sauce. They work different parts of asparagus into other dishes - throughout the season. That's what I like to see!"
Of course the ladies were allowed to try and harvest an asparagus too. Marc explained it step by step first.
What Marc notices is that the consumer has grown used to the image of the long straight asparagus. "We used to be able to use all parts of the asparagus, now they have to be perfect. You won't get far with a broken asparagus or parts like the end or 'gatteke'. This is despite the fact you can do so much with every part of the asparagus."
Some nice hot asparagus soup after all the hard work. Left to right: Ilse Ceulemans, Gerda Verhulst and Sofie Lambrecht.
Marc explains what you can do with asparagus.
Increase at BelOrta
"In 2016 BelOrta traded no less than 1,400,000 kg of loose white asparagus, an increase of 30% compared to 2015. 2,300,000 tubs of 500 grams were also sold. That brings to total to over 2,500,000 kg. Besides white asparagus BelOrta also has a growing supply of green asparagus and peeled asparagus. The Belgian bought 0.27 kg of white asparagus per capita fresh in 2016. The usage is higher through out of home channels," says Sofie Lambrecht.