Asparagus has been a rare sight on the Polish market in recent years. The production was concentrated on the export markets, mainly Germany. However asparagus seems to be gaining popularity on the domestic market too.
Marian Jakobsze, president of the Union of Polish asparagus growers, assumes that most of the production (around 5,000 tonnes) now remains in the country. According to information from Eurostat it's slightly less than half. The figures from Eurostat show that Poland exported around 2,700 tonnes of asparagus in 2012. Most of this 2,100 tonnes, went to Germany. Another 500 tonnes went to Holland and the rest was supplied to France, Switzerland and Austria.
Jakobsze can see two reason for the growing interest in asparagus. On one hand the Poles have the new freedom to travel to new countries and get to know regional specialities there, thanks to the German reunification and joining the EU. This has lead to an increase in being able to buy these specialities in their own country. On the other hand the strong presence of asparagus in cooking programmes, on recipe websites and in restaurants is also contributing to its new popularity.
source: ami