Asparagus - love it or hate it.....?

There was something on telly a while back comparing people who did produce asparagus smelling pee & those who didn't. Until then I'd thought everyone did, as everyone I know, does. You live and learn

I hate it!

We think (wee think?) that it smells of antibiotics. Tetracyclin?

When I cooked it the first time I over cooked it and it tasted like boiled school greens but I have now learnt to cook it which is for a very short time, I now quite like it

Love 'sparrow grass' & don't mind being one of the 22%

If only 22% of people can smell it, an amazing proportion of them are on Gransnet - and in my family!

Eating Asparagus the day it's picked is certainly good. We have a farm not far from here who have just started cutting. I bought some today - very reasonable price Euros 4 for 1 kg. Can't beat eating it in season Flickety

Thank you Bags and to Mr Bags. So, if I can't smell my pee it may or may not be smelly. I could ask a friend to check, but I think I will just sail through life believing, perhaps erroneously, that my post asparagus wee is simply lovelier than that of others.

I love asparagus with hollandaise sauce but it does make your pee smell.

Love it - used to live in Italy and picked wild asparagus - wonderful and yes, makes smelly pee, almost instantly

Three little spears just peeping up in the garden. Back to winter after tomorrow though, so may take a while!

We try to only eat it when it is in season and we can buy it at our local farm shop and eat it the day it is harvested. This time of year we are on tenterhooks waiting for the first of the crop to arrive, I think it is called delayed gratification and it adds to our enjoyment.

Yes - and our pee smells and we can smell it.

Pee turns greenish and I can certainly smell it!

Mamie - Asparagus risotto - sounds delicious. Mr. B. does a great fennel risotto (he's more patient than me) - but think I'll point him towards your OH's recipe.

Oh, that's interesting. So even if say, Mr. B. couldn't smell his own asparagus pee, I could detect it if I went to the loo shortly afterwards?

It does linger, I find.

Yes and yes. It is also one of the most successful crops in our garden. OH does a fab asparagus risotto.

I love it, and I can certainly smell the result.

Melted butter and black pepper,poached egg and blackpudding, makes a delicious snack/starter.

MrBags has just read me the results of several studies about asparagus pee. In short, some people can't detect the smell of asparagus pee even though they produce it. Seems an olfactory gene associated with its detection had been isolated in one at least of the studies – "a single nucleotide polymorphism in a cluster of olfactory genes". Only about 22% of people can smell it.

Love it with home made vinaigrette. Pee smell happens within minutes although some people don't get it at all - DD3 doesn't know what I'm talking about. Think it must be chemical reaction

I adore asparagus, especially with butter and parmesan cheese. No, it doesn't make my pee smell.

Not sure everybody's pee is affected. It might be one of those genetic oddities like tongue-rolling.

I love asparagus 110% , can"t say anymore .

Yes to the pee smell! Within a couple of hours for me.

Had a beetroot pee fright once because I'd eaten a large portion of roast beetroot but had forgotten about it. Fortunately I remembered just as I was about to make a doc appointment!

Love it and we have an asparagus fair near us every year. Baskets of it are auctioned off for charity.

Asparagus ...yes love it. Gd tried it last week and she enjoyed it too. my sense of smell is poor so no probs.