Asparagus Trivia Quiz Questions And Answers
What is asparagus?
A: Asparagus or garden asparagus,
scientific name Asparagus officinalis, is a
spring vegetable.
Asparagus was once classified in the lily family, but the
Liliaceae have been split and asparagus is in what family?
A: Asparagaceae.
Asparagus officinalis is native to where?
A: Most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia.
Asparagus is widely cultivated as what type of crop?
A: A vegetable crop.
How tall does the asparagus grow to?
A: 39–59 inches tall, with stout stems with much-branched feathery foliage.
Asparagus is pictured as an offering on an Egyptian frieze
dating to when?
A: 3000 BC.
In ancient times, it was also known in what other two
countries?
A: Syria and in
Spain.
Greeks and Romans ate it fresh when in season, and did what
else with it?
A: Dried the vegetable for use in winter.
Romans even froze it high in the Alps, for what?
A: The Feast of Epicurus.
Which Roman Emperor created the "Asparagus Fleet" for
hauling the vegetable, and coined the expression "faster than
cooking asparagus"
for quick action?
A: Emperor Augustus.
A recipe for cooking asparagus is in what oldest surviving
book of recipes?
A: Apicius’s third-century AD De re coquinaria, Book III.
When did the ancient Greek physician Galen mention
asparagus as a beneficial herb?
A: Euring the second century AD.
Only young asparagus shoots are commonly eaten: once the
buds start to open what happens?
A: The shoots quickly turn woody.
Water makes up what percentage of asparagus's composition?
A: 93%.
Asparagus is low in calories and what?
A: Very low in sodium.
The amino acid asparagine gets its name from asparagus, as
the asparagus plant is relatively what?
A: Rich in this compound.
The shoots are prepared and served in a number of ways
around the world, typically as a what?
A: An appetizer or vegetable side dish.
In Asian-style cooking, asparagus is often what?
A: Stir-fried.
Cantonese restaurants in the United States often serve
asparagus stir-fried with what?
A: Chicken, shrimp, or
beef.
Asparagus can also be pickled and stored for how long?
A: Several years.
To cultivate white asparagus, the shoots are covered with
what as they grow?
A: soil.
Without exposure to sunlight no photosynthesis starts, so
the shoots do what?
A: Remain white in color.
Purple asparagus differs from its green and white
counterparts, having what?
A: Higher sugar and lower fiber levels.
Purple asparagus was originally developed in
Italy and
commercialized under what variety name?
A: "Violetto d' Albenga".
What country is the world's largest producer of asparagus?
A: China.
U.S. production is concentrated in what three states?
A: California,
Michigan and Washington.
What does the city of Stockton, California hold every year?
A: A festival to celebrate it, as does the city of Hart, Michigan.
The Vale of Evesham in Worcestershire is heralded as the
largest producer within Northern Europe, celebrating like Stockton, with a what?
A: A week-long festival every year involving auctions of the best crop and
locals dressing up as spears of asparagus as part of the British Asparagus
Festival.
What is the Sanskrit name of Asparagus?
A: Shatavari.
In the 1980s three studies from France, China and Israel
published results showing that producing odorous urine from asparagus was a
what?
A: A common human characteristic.
Most people produce the odorous compounds after eating
asparagus, but only about what percent of the population have the autosomal
genes required to smell them?
A: 22%.
In the Netherlands and Northern Germany, asparagus is often
eaten together with what?
A: Ham, boiled egg, potatoes and a melted
butter sauce.