Seasonal Slices

Whisked!’s apple-whiskey pie.

The first box won’t arrive for a few more weeks, but I’m already looking forward to the start of my yearly community supported agriculture subscription. I’m always so excited to open up my box every week and figure out how to cook whatever straight-from-the-farm produce is inside.

To tide myself over until then, I tried out a new type of food subscription: a pie CSA, offered by D.C. bakery Whisked! Owner Jenna Huntsberger prepares one savory and one sweet flavor of her pies each week. Customers place orders in advance at Whiskeddc.com; options range from 9-inch pies in both flavors every week for a full month ($144) to one 6-inch pie every other week for two months ($36). Members pick up their pie(s) from one of a few D.C. locations.

My recent sample included a rich yet expertly balanced goat cheese and asparagus pie, and a somewhat dry, chunky pink lady apple-whiskey pie (above). Still, the pair of 6-inchers made for a convenient, satisfying and minimally messy picnic dinner for two.

In a way, a pie CSA lets you enjoy all the benefits of a regular CSA, without the hassle of actually dealing with a farm-share box. A true CSA subscription includes uncooked, unpredictable and sometimes boring contents (“cabbage … again?!”). Whisked!’s pies are homemade, plus they include local and seasonal foods, since Huntsberger gets her ingredients from area farmers. “You’re getting the best of the market, but in pie form,” she says.