In the “there’s a museum for everything” category: the Spargelmuseums in Beelitz, Nienburg and Schrobenhausen, Germany, are museums devoted to asparagus. (“Spargel” is German for asparagus.) Germany is famous for thick-stalked white asparagus, which grows underground. No sunlight means no photosynthesis, thus no green color. White asparagus is harvested when its tips break the surface of the soil.

The Kentucky Derby calls itself the oldest continuously run sporting event in the United States — the operative words being “continuously run.” In fact, the Belmont Stakes is the oldest of the three Triple Crown events in American thoroughbred horse racing. (At 1.5 miles, it’s also the longest of the three.) The Belmont was run for the first time in 1867, stopped for a few years when the Hart Agnew Law prohibited gambling at racetracks in New York State and revived in 1913.

Male cardinals have red feathers because they eat yellow foods. An enzyme converts the yellow pigments in the seeds, leaves and fruit the birds eat into a red pigment that colors their feathers.

1. Which of Escoffier’s “mother sauces” is made from egg yolk and liquefied butter with a dash of lemon juice?

A) Bechamel

B) Espagnole

C) Hollandaise

D) Veloute

2. The winning horse at the Preakness Stakes is draped in a blanket made from what type of flowers?

A) Black-eyed Susans

B) Carnations

C) Marigolds

D) Roses

3. Cardinal Richelieu was a real person as well as a character in which novel?

A) “Death Comes for the Archbishop”

B) “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”

C) “The Three Musketeers”

D) “War and Peace”

4. Who was the first catcher to be named Major League Baseball’s Rookie of the Year?

A) Johnny Bench

B) Carlton Fisk

C) Thurman Munson

D) Earl Williams

5. Which of these is a medical term for the act of vomiting?

A) Emesis

B) Expectoration

C) Lacrimation

D) Pertussis

6. Which of these produces the natural allergen urushiol?

A) King Cobra

B) Penguin

C) Poison Ivy

D) Squid

1) Hollandaise sauce is made from egg yolks, liquefied butter and lemon juice.

2) The winning horse at the Preakness is draped in a blanket of Black-eyed Susans.

3) Cardinal Richelieu was a character in “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas.

4) Johnny Bench of the Cincinnati Reds was the first Major League Baseball catcher voted Rookie of the Year.

5) Emesis is the medical term for vomiting.

6) Urushiol is the substance in poison ivy that makes your skin itch.

Email Leslie at triviabitsleslie@gmail.com.