C2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 23,1981
Asparagus,
a vegetable worth
cutting
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
Many delights come with the
arrival of Spring and the onset of
gardening but asparagus has to
rank as one of the richest pleasures
of the season. Nothing can quite
compare with fresh-from-the
garden asparagus, cooked to
perfection and covered with
melted butter.
Unless you grow your own, you
probably have little idea of the
hard work mvolved in getting that
garden fresh delight to your table.
Mr. and Mrs. Vance Bncker,
Carlisle Rl, devote their entire
spring to providing asparagus for
enthusiasts.
Asparagus is one of the earliest
vegetables to creep through the
sod ?nd Alice Bricker says you
can b gm cutting as early as the
first «eek of April, depending upon
the weather. Her first day for
cutting this year was April 6, The two women work easily
although last year cool weather together, with animated chatter
postponed the first harvest until making the work load seem
the tiurd week of the month. lighter. Alice says Edna is the
Once the first cutting begins, sister she never had. When
asparagus harvest is an every day customer arrives for an order
including Sunday job. The there is pleasant conversation as
Bnckers are cutting off of 10,000 the work continues,
plants, with an additional 5,000 in All asparagus is sold by order,
the process of maturing. with customers calling two weeks
There are three regular cutters m advance to place their orders,
including Alice, husband Vance \ They are then notified on the
and their good friend Edna Brehm. specific day theirs is ready.
During the season their day begins Alice says, “There is none sold
at5.45a.m. when they “go through wholesale. We never have any
the whole patch.” While the total sitting around.” Indeed a drop-m
amount of time varies throughout customer cannot expect to acquire
the season and depends upon the even a bunch of asparagus except
weather, Alice estimates that it by luck.
takes about three hours daily. Alice tries to have all the
Cutting stops from 7:00 am. to 8:00 asparagus picked up by noon, then
am. while Edna and Alice each go it is “good and fresh.” It also frees
home to get their school age up her afternoon for hoeing
children off to school. Usually it strawberries, her other intensive
continues until 10:30 am. business in early summer.
The cutters go through the rows, Customers come from as far
two at a time, using a sharp cutting away as Annville m Lebanon
tool to cut the plants at ground County and Maryland. Alice
surface. Of course, this means a lot states, “Some customers repeat
of bending. Alice says, “You need but each year I get some new
a strong back.” On a good day they ones.”
might cut 200 pounds of asparagus. She feels there is an unlimited
When the cutting is finished, the market for asparagus and admits
work is just beginning. Next Edna that she could sell far more than
and Alice work to “bunch” the she has. However, she says she has
asparagus in small parcels of no desire to expand, preferring to
approximately 3/4 pound each, keep the operation a size that she
Alice and Edna show the technique for at a time as they move through the field. The
cutting asparagus in the field. Alice says, “It Brickers cut from 10,000 plants,
takes a strong back." Cutters take two rows v
This is an estimate, and the bun-
ches are weighed when they are
picked up by customers. Each
bunch is secured by a string, then
stood in trays with metal mesh
bottoms. After being hosed down to
wash off excess soil, the bunches
are stood upright in trays of water
until customers arrive.
The only waste in the operation
is cutting off the ragged ends
before they are sold. While these
are usable, the Bnckers discard
them. But Alice adds, “At the
bottom of the spear, you can peel
off the hard part and then it is soft
enough to use.”
As they sort out the asparagus
for bundles, there are skinny, fat
and otherwise malformed
asparagus spears left on the table.
These are then cut up and offered
for sale as is, or used by Alice and
Edna, both of whom claim they
never tire of eating.
jnce a Alice . jr pose by . Jgn
which identifies their asparagus and
strawberry business. Alice says the
strawberries are her husband's and the
and her husband can handle with
just a little extra help. She says
there is no local competition in the
asparagus business.
Both Alice and Edna agree that
the most important thing m
cooking asparagus is not to
overcook. While Alice contends it
is not necessary to blanch the
asparagus before freezing, she
tells those who do they should put
the asparagus in boiling water just
until it turns a different shade of
green, about one minute. Then it
should be plunged into ice water,
drained and frozen.
Alice prefers her asparagus in a
casserole. She puts one layer of
partially cooked asparagus into a
greased casserole, adds a layer of
hard cooked eggs, then spreads
some cheese soup and repeats
each layer. This is topped with
bread crumbs and baked at 350
degrees for about Vz hour.
Edna says she prefers her
asparagus simply cooked and
served with butter.
Alice says she tries to fmd tune
to freeze about 40 packs a year for
her own use, but adds, “I get the
little stuff chopped up.”
This year there was a frost which
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asparagus crop is hers. They work together on
these spring crops with a schedule which
leaves little free time.
Edna Brehm weighs a bunch of asparagus before it is sold.
All the asparagus is ordered in-advance, with customers
notified when their order is ready.
The cutting tool employed by the Brickers works easily to
cut off the asparagus spear as a first step in the marketing
process.