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By CINDY MAHAN
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
When Heidi and Lindsey Eastham married seven years ago they planted asparagus, blackberries, red raspberries and yellow raspberries. Since then she has built up quite a successful business canning dilled white asparagus and baking pies in her Tack House Kitchen on their farm in Flint Hill.
"The business has grown with the children," explained Mrs. Eastham, adding that her 3-year-old son and 4year-old daughter help pick the asparagus, which is harvested from the end of April until mid-June. They spend time with her in the kitchen while she is peeling or canning the asparagus or making her pies which are so popular around the county.
With some help from her Dutch grandmother, Mrs. Eastham has come up with a real winner of a recipe for dilled white asparagus. To make the asparagus white, it is covered with two feet of straw mulch. The white asparagus was at first discovered quite by accident by Mrs. Eastham when she grew tired of weeding and covered the whole asparagus patch with straw. Under the straw was white asparagus and "all of a sudden we were . in the gourmet food business," she said.
Because the asparagus is not cooked except for the 10 minutes it spends in the water bath, it is really crunchy. A little bit of cayenne pepper in the recipe adds just the right touch of heat, and a long strip of red pepper in the jar adds to the beauty of the product.
Mrs. Eastham has approval from the Health Department to produce the asparagus and pies in her kitchen. The pH level of every batch of asparagus must be tested, she said.
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