Asparagus has been used from early times as a vegetable and medicine, owing to its delicate flavour and diuretic properties. There is a recipe for cooking asparagus in the oldest surviving book of recipes, Apicius’s third century AD De re coquinaria, Book III. It was cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, who ate it fresh when in season and dried the vegetable for use in winter.[verification needed] It lost its popularity in the Middle Ages but returned to favour in the seventeenth century.

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Asparagus is low in calories, contains no fat or cholesterol, and is very low in sodium. It is a good source of folic acid, potbumium, dietary fiber, and rutin. The amino acid asparagine gets its name from asparagus, the asparagus plant being rich in this compound.

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Asparagus can also be pickled and stored for several years. Some brands may label them as “marinated” which means the same thing.

Green asparagus is eaten worldwide, though the availability of imports throughout the year has made it less of a delicacy than it once was.

In continental northern Europe, there is also a strong seasonal following for local white asparagus, nicknamed “white gold”.

Since asparagus often originates in maritime habitats, it thrives in soils that are too saline for normal weeds to grow in. Thus a little salt was traditionally used to suppress weeds in beds intended for asparagus; this has the disadvantage that the soil cannot be used for anything else. Some places are better for growing asparagus than others. The fertility of the soil is a large factor. “Crowns” are planted in winter, and the first shoots appear in spring; the first pickings or “thinnings” are known as sprue asparagus. Sprue have thin stems.

Purple asparagus differs from its green and white counterparts, having high sugar and low fibre levels. Purple asparagus was originally developed in Italy and commercialised under the variety name Violetto d’Albenga. Since then, breeding work has continued in countries such as the United States and New Zealand.

Asparagus is a useful companion plant for tomatoes. The tomato plant repels the asparagus beetle, as do several other common companion plants of tomatoes, meanwhile asparagus may repel some harmful root nematodes that affect tomato plants.