Newcomers to Germany are usually astonished by the feeding frenzy concerning asparagus in the months from late March to mid June. There is a plethora of asparagus to be had in supermarkets, in restaurants, and at the roadside.

But I’ve never seen a heap of spoiled asparagus at the side of an asparagus field. I don’t know what was wrong with them, why the spears were discarded. It just looked like a plethora of waste.
