Editing Asparagus (section)

== In culture ==
Asparagus has been used as a vegetable owing to its distinct flavor, and in medicine due to its [[diuretic]] properties and its purported function as an [[aphrodisiac]]. It is pictured as an offering on an Egyptian [[frieze]] dating to 3000 BC. In ancient times, it was also known in Syria and in the Iberian Peninsula. Greeks and Romans ate it fresh when in season, and dried the vegetable for use in winter. Emperor [[Augustus]] coined the expression "faster than cooking asparagus" for quick action.<ref name="August" group="Note">Latin ''velocius quam asparagi conquantur'' (or ''celerius quam asparagi cocuntur''), ascribed to Augustus by [[Suetonius]] (''The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Book 2 ''(Augustus), para. 87). See [[List of Latin phrases (V)]].</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Brunning, Pam |date=June 2010 |title=Asparagus – Liliaceae–Asparagacease |url=http://www.iwfs.org/assets/upload/regions/europe-africa/Food_and_Wine/Food__Wine_June_2010_1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001042749/http://www.iwfs.org/assets/upload/regions/europe-africa/Food_and_Wine/Food__Wine_June_2010_1.pdf |archive-date=2011-10-01 |url-status=live |journal=Food & Wine |issue=103 |access-date=26 August 2011}}</ref><ref name="Stichting Afzetbevordering Asperges">{{cite web |title=Over asperge – Oudheid |url=http://www.asperge.nl/nl/overasperge/oudheid/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331065257/http://www.asperge.nl/nl/overasperge/oudheid/ |archive-date=31 March 2012 |access-date=26 August 2011 |publisher=Stichting Afzetbevordering Asperges |language=nl}}</ref>

A recipe for cooking asparagus is given in one of the oldest surviving collections of recipes ([[Apicius]]'s 1st century AD ''[[De re coquinaria]]'', Book III). In the second century AD, the Greek physician [[Galen]], highly respected within Roman society, mentioned asparagus as a beneficial herb, but as dominance of the Roman empire waned, asparagus' medicinal value drew little attention<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vaughan |first1=John Griffith |url=https://archive.org/details/newoxfordbookoff00vaug_0 |title=The New Oxford Book of Food Plants |last2=Geissler |first2=Catherine Alison |last3=Nicholson |first3=Barbara |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-19-854825-6 |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="anno1000" group="Note" />
until [[:s:Author:Muhammad al-Nafzawi|al-Nafzawi]]'s ''[[The Perfumed Garden]]''. That piece of writing celebrates its purported [[aphrodisiac]]al <!--adj: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aphrodisiac--> power that the Indian ''[[Ananga Ranga]]'' attributes to "special [[phosphorus]] elements" that also counteract fatigue.{{Dubious |reason=The Ananga Ranga was written a century or two before phosphorus was isolated, so it's unlikely to have attributed anything to phosphorus. If anyone can find phosphorus in the Ananga Ranga, please cite the place. |date=May 2020}}

By 1469, asparagus was cultivated in French monasteries. Asparagus appears to have been little noticed in England until 1538,<ref name="anno1000" group="Note" /> and in Germany until 1542.<ref name="Stichting Afzetbevordering Asperges" />

Asparagus was brought to North America by European settlers at least as early as 1655. Adriaen van der Donck, a Dutch immigrant to New Netherland, mentions asparagus in his description of Dutch farming practices in the New World.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Blackburn |first1=Roderic H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nK5Au-cvOTwC |title=New World Dutch Studies: Dutch Arts and Culture in Colonial America, 1609-1776 : Proceedings of the Symposium |last2=Kelley |first2=Nancy A. |date=January 1987 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-1-4384-2989-2 |language=en}}</ref> Asparagus was grown by British immigrants as well; in 1685, one of William Penn's advertisements for Pennsylvania included asparagus in a long list of crops that grew well in the American climate.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murphy |first=Andrew R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GTpxDwAAQBAJ |title=William Penn: A Life |date=8 October 2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-023426-3 |language=en}}</ref>

The ''points d'amour'' ("love tips") were served as a delicacy to [[Madame de Pompadour]] (1721–1764).<ref>{{cite web |date=20 May 2009 |title=Wit goud en koningin der groente: vorstelijke asperges |url=http://eten-en-drinken.infoyo.nl/producten/14450-wit-goud-en-koningin-der-groente-vorstelijke-asperges.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119040848/http://eten-en-drinken.infoyo.nl/producten/14450-wit-goud-en-koningin-der-groente-vorstelijke-asperges.html |archive-date=19 January 2012 |access-date=26 August 2011 |publisher=Infoyo (web publisher) |location=Netherlands |language=nl |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage= [[File:Julia Child at KUHT.jpg|210px]] | video1 = [http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_B0D9EDA444FC425C8932E0BE8198AAA5 The French Chef; Asparagus From Tip to Butt], [[Julia Child]], 25 April 1966, 29:16, [[WGBH Educational Foundation|WGBH Open Vault]]<ref>{{cite web | title =The French Chef; Asparagus From Tip to Butt | work = The Julia Child Project | publisher =[[WGBH Educational Foundation|WGBH Open Vault]] | date = 25 April 1966 | url = http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_B0D9EDA444FC425C8932E0BE8198AAA5 | access-date =16 September 2016 }}</ref> }}

=== Effects on urine ===
The effect of eating asparagus on urine excreted afterwards has long been observed:

<blockquote>[Asparagus] cause a powerful and disagreeable smell in the urine, as everybody knows.
:— ''Treatise of All Sorts of Foods'', [[Louis Lémery]], 1702<ref>{{cite book |last=McGee |first=Harold |title=McGee on Food and Cooking |publisher=Hodder and Stoughton |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-340-83149-6 |pages=315 |chapter=6}}</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>asparagus... affects the urine with a [[wikt:foetid|foetid]] smell (especially if cut when they are white) and therefore have been suspected by some physicians as not friendly to the kidneys; when they are older, and begin to ramify, they lose this quality; but then they are not so agreeable.
:— "An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments", [[John Arbuthnot]], 1735<ref>{{cite book |author=Arbuthnot J |title=An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments |publisher=J. Tonson |year=1735 |edition=3rd |location=London |pages=64261–262 |author-link=John Arbuthnot}}</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>A few Stems of Asparagus eaten, shall give our Urine a disagreeable Odour...
:— "[[Fart Proudly|Letter to the Royal Academy of Brussels]]", [[Benjamin Franklin]], c. 1781<ref>{{cite web |last=Franklin |first=Benjamin |year=c. 1781 |title=Letter to the Royal Academy of Brussels |url=http://mith2.umd.edu/eada/html/display.php?docs=franklin_bagatelle2.xml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121215033705/http://mith2.umd.edu/eada/html/display.php?docs=franklin_bagatelle2.xml |archive-date=2012-12-15}}</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>Asparagus "...transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume."
:— [[Marcel Proust]] (1871–1922)<ref>From the French "[...] changer mon pot de chambre en un vase de parfum", ''Du côté de chez Swann'', Gallimard, 1988.</ref></blockquote>

Asparagus contains [[asparagusic acid]]. When the vegetable is digested, a group of volatile sulfur-containing compounds is produced.<ref>{{cite web |last=Stromberg |first=Joseph |title=Why Asparagus Makes Your Urine Smell |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-asparagus-makes-your-urine-smell-49961252/?no-ist |work=smithsonianmag.com}}</ref>

[[File:AsparagusinAutumn3.JPG|thumb|upright|Asparagus foliage turns bright yellow in autumn.]]

Certain compounds in asparagus are [[metabolism|metabolized]] to yield ammonia and various [[sulfur]]-containing degradation products, including various [[thiol]]s and [[thioester]]s,<ref>{{cite journal |author=White RH. |year=1975 |title=Occurrence of S-methyl thioesters in urines of humans after they have eaten asparagus |journal=Science |volume=189 |issue=4205 |pages=810–11 |bibcode=1975Sci...189..810W |doi=10.1126/science.1162354 |pmid=1162354}}</ref> which following consumption give [[urine]] a characteristic smell. Some<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pelchat |first1=M. L. |last2=Bykowski |first2=C. |last3=Duke |first3=F. F. |last4=Reed |first4=D. R. |date=26 July 2010 |title=Excretion and Perception of a Characteristic Odor in Urine after Asparagus Ingestion: a Psychophysical and Genetic Study |journal=Chemical Senses |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=9–17 |doi=10.1093/chemse/bjq081 |pmc=3002398 |pmid=20876394}}</ref> of the [[volatile organic compound]]s responsible for the smell are:<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Waring RH, Mitchell SC, Fenwick GR |year=1987 |title=The chemical nature of the urinary odour produced by man after asparagus ingestion |journal=Xenobiotica |volume=17 |issue=11 |pages=1363–1371 |doi=10.3109/00498258709047166 |pmid=3433805}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Mitchell S.C. |year=2001 |title=Food idiosyncrasies: beetroot and asparagus |url=http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/29/4/539#SEC2 |journal=Drug Metabolism and Disposition |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=539–543 |pmid=11259347}}</ref>
* [[methanethiol]]
* [[dimethyl sulfide]]
* [[dimethyl disulfide]]
* [[bis(methylthio)methane]]
* [[dimethyl sulfoxide]]
* [[dimethyl sulfone]]

Subjectively, the first two are the most pungent, while the last two (sulfur-oxidized) give a sweet aroma. A mixture of these compounds form a "reconstituted asparagus urine" odor. This was first investigated in 1891 by [[Marceli Nencki]], who attributed the smell to [[methanethiol]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Nencki |first=Marceli |author-link=Marceli Nencki |year=1891 |title=Ueber das vorkommen von methylmercaptan im menschlichen harn nach spargelgenuss |journal=Arch. Exp. Pathol. Pharmakol. |volume=28 |issue=3–4 |pages=206–209 |doi=10.1007/BF01824333 |s2cid=26430677}}</ref> These compounds originate in the asparagus as [[asparagusic acid]] and its derivatives, as these are the only sulfur-containing compounds unique to asparagus. As these are more present in young asparagus, this accords with the observation that the smell is more pronounced after eating young asparagus. The biological mechanism for the production of these compounds is less clear.{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}}

The onset of the asparagus urine smell is remarkably rapid while the decline is slower. The smell has been reported to be detectable 15 to 30 minutes after ingestion<ref>{{cite web |author=Somer, E. |date=14 August 2000 |title=Eau D'Asparagus |url=http://www.webmd.com/content/article/43/1671_51089 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821225214/http://www.webmd.com/content/article/43/1671_51089 |archive-date=21 August 2006 |access-date=31 August 2006 |website=WebMD}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=O'Neil |first1=Carolyn |last2=MS |last3=RD |title=Why Your Pee Smells Funny After Eating Asparagus |url=https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/why-pee-smells-funny-eat-asparagus |access-date=2020-10-26 |website=WebMD |language=en}}</ref> and subsides with a [[Biological half-life|half-life]] of approximately four hours.<ref name="van Hasselt-2016">{{cite journal |last1=van Hasselt |first1=J. G. C. |last2=Elassaiss-Schaap |first2=J. |last3=Ramamoorthy |first3=A. |last4=Sadler |first4=B. M. |last5=Kasichayanula |first5=S. |last6=Edwards |first6=Y. |last7=van der Graaf |first7=P. H. |last8=Zhang |first8=L. |last9=Wagner |first9=J. A. |year=2016 |title=The proof is in the pee: Population asparagus urinary odor kinetics |url=http://www.page-meeting.org/default.asp?abstract=5717 |journal=PAGE: Abstracts of the Annual Meeting of the Population Approach Group in Europe |volume=25 |issn=1871-6032 |access-date=7 July 2016}}</ref>
Asparagus has been eaten and cultivated for at least two millennia but the association between odorous urine and asparagus consumption was not observed until the late 17th century when sulfur-rich fertilisers became common in agriculture.<ref name="Mitchell-2001">{{cite journal |last=Mitchell |first=S. C. |year=2001 |title=Food idiosyncrasies: Beetroot and asparagus |url=http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/29/4/539.full |journal=[[Drug Metabolism and Disposition]] |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=539–543 |pmid=11259347}}</ref> Small-scale studies noted that the "asparagus urine" odour was not produced by all individuals and estimates as to the proportion of the population who are excretors (reporting a noticeable asparagus urine odour after eating asparagus) has ranged from about 40%<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Allison |first1=A. C. |last2=McWhirter |first2=K. G. |year=1956 |title=Two unifactorial characters for which man is polymorphic |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=178 |issue=4536 |pages=748–749 |bibcode=1956Natur.178..748A |doi=10.1038/178748c0 |pmid=13369530 |s2cid=4168673}}</ref> to as high as 79%.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sugarman |first1=J. |last2=Neelon |first2=F. A. |year=1985 |title=You're in for a treat: Asparagus |journal=[[North Carolina Medical Journal]] |volume=46 |issue=6 |pages=332–334 |pmid=3860737}}</ref><ref name="van Hasselt-2016" /> When excretors are exposed to urine of people who do not report odour in their urine after asparagus consumption, however, the characteristic asparagus urine odour is usually reported.<ref name="Mitchell-2001" /> More recent work has found that a small proportion of individuals do not produce asparagus urine, and amongst those who do, some cannot detect the odour due to a [[single-nucleotide polymorphism]] within a cluster of [[olfactory receptor]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pelchat |first1=M. L. |last2=Bykowski |first2=C. |last3=Duke |first3=F. F. |last4=Reed |first4=D. R. |year=2011 |title=Excretion and perception of a characteristic odor in urine after asparagus ingestion: A psychophysical and genetic study |journal=[[Chemical Senses]] |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=9–17 |doi=10.1093/chemse/bjq081 |pmc=3002398 |pmid=20876394}}</ref>

Debate exists about the universality of producing the sulfurous smell, as well as the ability to detect it. Originally, this was thought to be because some people digested asparagus differently from others, so some excreted odorous urine after eating asparagus, and others did not. In the 1980s, three studies from France,<ref>{{cite journal |author1=C. RICHER |author2=N. DECKER |author3=J. BELIN |author4=J. L. IMBS |author5=J. L. MONTASTRUC |author6=J. F. GIUDICELLI |date=May 1989 |title=Odorous urine in man after asparagus |journal=Br. J. Clin. Pharmacol. |volume=27 |issue=5 |pages=640–1 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2125.1989.tb03431.x |pmc=1379934 |pmid=2757887}}</ref> China, and Israel published results showing that producing odorous urine from asparagus was a common human characteristic. The Israeli study found that from their 307 subjects, all of those who could smell "asparagus urine" could detect it in the urine of anyone who had eaten asparagus, even if the person who produced it could not detect it.<ref>{{cite journal |author=S. C. MITCHELL |date=May 1989 |title=Asparagus and malodorous urine |journal=Br. J. Clin. Pharmacol. |volume=27 |issue=5 |pages=641–2 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2125.1989.tb03432.x |pmc=1379935 |pmid=2757888}}</ref> A 2010 study<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pelchat |first1=M. L. |author2=Bykowski, C. |author3=Duke, F. F. |author4=Reed, D. R. |year=2010 |title=Excretion and Perception of a Characteristic Odor in Urine after Asparagus Ingestion: a Psychophysical and Genetic Study |journal=Chemical Senses |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=9–17 |doi=10.1093/chemse/bjq081 |pmc=3002398 |pmid=20876394}}</ref> found variations in both production of odorous urine and the ability to detect the odor, but that these were not tightly related. Most people are thought to produce the odorous compounds after eating asparagus, but the differing abilities of various individuals to detect the odor at increasing dilutions suggests a genetically determined specific sensitivity.<ref>{{cite news |date=23 September 2005 |title=The scientific chef: asparagus pee |url=https://www.theguardian.com/food/story/0,,1576765,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070504232117/http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0%2C%2C1576765%2C00.html |archive-date=4 May 2007 |access-date=21 April 2007 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Hannah Holmes |title=Why Asparagus Makes Your Pee Stink |url=http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970115/skinny1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229081018/http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970115/skinny1.html |archive-date=29 February 2008 |publisher=Discover.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Lison M, Blondheim SH, Melmed RN |year=1980 |title=A polymorphism of the ability to smell urinary metabolites of asparagus |journal=Br Med J |volume=281 |issue=6256 |pages=1676–8 |doi=10.1136/bmj.281.6256.1676 |pmc=1715705 |pmid=7448566}}</ref>

In 2010, the company [[23andMe]] published a [[genome-wide association study]] on whether participants have "ever noticed a peculiar odor when [they] pee after eating asparagus".<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Eriksson N, Macpherson JM, Tung JY, Hon LS, Naughton B, Saxonov S, Avey L, Wojcicki A, Pe'er I, Mountain J |year=2010 |editor1-last=Gibson |editor1-first=Greg |title=Web-Based, Participant-Driven Studies Yield Novel Genetic Associations for Common Traits |journal=PLOS Genet. |volume=6 |issue=6 |pages=e1000993 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000993 |pmc=2891811 |pmid=20585627 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This study pinpointed a [[single-nucleotide polymorphism]] (SNP) in a cluster of olfactory genes associated with the ability to detect the odor. While this SNP did not explain all of the difference in detection between people, it provides support for the theory that genetic differences occur in olfactory receptors that lead people to be unable to smell these odorous compounds.

=== Celebrations ===
The green crop is significant enough in California's [[Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta]] region that the city of [[Stockton, California|Stockton]] holds a festival every year to celebrate it. [[Oceana County, Michigan]], the self-proclaimed "asparagus capital of the world", hosts an annual festival.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Asparagus Festival |url=https://www.nationalasparagusfestival.org/ |access-date=2020-10-20 |website=asparagusfestival |language=en}}</ref> The [[Vale of Evesham]] in [[Worcestershire]] (another "asparagus capital"<ref>{{cite web | title=A Visitor's Introduction to Evesham | publisher=Choosewhere | url=https://choosewhere.com/evesham-visitor-guide | access-date=9 May 2025}}</ref>) celebrates the annual British Asparagus Festival, with auctions of the best crop, an "Asparagus Run" modelled on the Beaujolais Run, and a weekend "Asparafest" music festival.<ref>{{cite web |title=About the Festival |url=http://www.britishasparagusfestival.org/about/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327014443/http://www.britishasparagusfestival.org/about/ |archive-date=27 March 2019 |access-date=26 March 2019 |work=British Aparagus Festival |publisher=British Asparagus Festival}}</ref>

Many German cities hold an annual ''Spargelfest'' (asparagus festival) celebrating the harvest of white asparagus. [[Schwetzingen]] claims to be the "Asparagus Capital of the World".<ref name="Davis-2008">{{cite news |last=Davis |first=William A. |date=14 May 2008 |title=Buried treasure: white asparagus |work=The Christian Science Monitor |location=Schwetzingen, Germany |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0514/p17s01-hfgn.html?page=2 |access-date=26 March 2019}}</ref>
<!--"The town of Beelitz in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan area" was mentioned here, situating it in northeastern Germany that (see Cultivation) is famous for asparagus cultivation — but not a word about a festival...-->