Halbmayrs

Halbmayr Spargel - Classic, grün

Asparagus is the king of vegetables. It is rich in protein, vitamins, fiber and minerals, but low in calories. It is also treated royally from harvest to delivery. Through careful harvesting by hand, gentle cleaning without chemical aids but only with a brush and water. The asparagus comes to us crisp and chilled after a short bath in ice water.

Processing

Green asparagus tastes slightly nutty and a bit heartier than its white relative. Its flavor comes into its own especially when fried, in salads and Asian dishes. Unlike white asparagus, green asparagus hardly needs to be peeled. It is sufficient to peel any white discoloration on the lower third and to cut off the woody ends about 1 cm thick.

If you want to cook green asparagus, bring salted water with a pinch of sugar to the boil and reduce the heat. Add the green asparagus whole or in pieces and cook for about 6 minutes until al dente.
Fried asparagus from the pan is ideal for quick cooking, as it is ready in just a few minutes! To do this, cut the asparagus spears into pieces about 5 cm long and fry them in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes all around. Season with a little salt, pepper and possibly lemon juice and the nutty delicacy is ready!

About the producer

Our family business is located in the heart of the Mostviertel. As an innovative young farmer, Rudolf Halbmayr brought the idea of "Beerenwelt" to Wolfsbach as early as 1979.

Since then, everything on our farm has revolved around the sweet, red fruit. The valuable knowledge is passed on from generation to generation and berry cultivation is further developed with great enthusiasm. In the meantime, we cultivate strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and asparagus. These are also refined into tasteful products.

We strive to produce tasty, ripe, high-quality fruit and vegetables. Sustainability and resource-saving, ecological cultivation are very important to us. By using beneficial insects, creating flower strips, ongoing training, international knowledge exchange and a lot of manual work, we want to meet these requirements.

For many years we have also been cultivating our strawberries in foil tunnels. These enable early, regional fruits of the best quality to be harvested.

Fruit and vegetables grown locally do not need long transport routes and can therefore be harvested ripe and marketed fresh. Thanks to our "protected" cultivation, in which our sensitive plants are spared from wind and heavy rain or even hail, we can reduce the use of pesticides to a minimum. For years we have also been working in parallel with beneficial insects for the biological control of aphids or strawberry mites. As a result, in recent years we have been able to observe a natural settlement of bumblebees and sand bees as well as other "helpers" and pollinators. The plastic films we use and which are no longer usable are of course recycled. When watering, we rely on economical drip irrigation with collected rainwater.

Recipe idea

Asparagus tempura with mint dip (for 4 people)

For the tempura:

• 100 g flour
• 1 egg size M
• 500 green asparagus
• 1 pinch of salt
• ¾ oil for frying

For the mint dip:

• 2 bunches of mint
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• 1 large tomato
• 1 red chili pepper
• 1 piece of fresh ginger (approx. 1 cm)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 pinch of sugar

Preparation:

For the tempura, mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Stir in 200 ml of ice-cold water and the egg and let the dough rest for 15 minutes. In the meantime, wash the asparagus and cut off the woody ends. Peel the green asparagus only in the lower third and cut all the spears into pieces about 5 cm long.

Heat the oil in a wide saucepan; the correct temperature is reached when small bubbles rise on a wooden spoon handle held in it. Stir the tempura batter again. Pull the asparagus pieces through the batter in portions and fry in the hot oil for about 4 minutes until golden brown. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on a thick layer of kitchen paper.

Wash, chop and puree the mint, onions, tomato, chili and ginger with lemon juice and oil in a blender. Season the dip with salt and sugar.

Serve the fried asparagus with the mint dip. A quick snack that will let you enjoy the start of spring!