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Monday, July 29, 2019

Blackberry Season Has Begun!


My daughter walked in the door all excited one evening last week and said the blackberries were ripening at the school that is along her walk home from the bus. This local school gets ripe berries about 2 weeks before the ones on our property, so this is always exciting to get a jump-start on the blackberry season. My two daughters took the car and a small ladder to the school after dinner that evening and picked 2 and a half quarts of ripe berries. In addition to eating them fresh and in a couple of smoothies, I just had to bake one of these:


I don't know if you can tell, but I tried to cut a sunflower in the top crust for venting. One of my daughters knew right away what it was, so maybe I wasn't too far off.

We will be eating fresh blackberries until the end of August. Can you guess what is on my shopping list for August? Shortening -- for making pie pastry dough. I know I have linked to this recipe several times before, but it really is one of the easiest and most reliable pie crust recipes that I know. It's named "Fool-Proof Pie Pastry" for a reason. It really does come out great every time. Here's the link to the recipe. The recipe makes enough dough for 5 crusts. When I make a batch, I divide the dough into 5 parts and make 5 round patties, about 3/4-inch thick and 4 to 5 inches across. I then wrap each in plastic wrap and keep in a bag in the freezer. To use, I simply thaw a patty on the counter for about 45 minutes to an hour and then roll out. I like to sub 1 cup of whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the white flour. The whole wheat adds a nice crispness to the crust. But the all-white flour crust is also quite good -- light and flakey.

Anyway, blackberry pie is a seasonal favorite of mine, and because we have all of these wild blackberries in our area, whole blackberry pies cost me about $1 each to make. We're hoping to freeze lots of quarts of blackberries in the next few weeks, so that we can enjoy blackberry pies all winter long.

16 comments:

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  3. I love blackberries, too, and I like the wild ones much better than the cultivated ones. My favorite way to eat them is in a blackberry cobbler. However, I don't know where any wild ones are growing. Uncle Billy had a patch in his yard, but that slowly died out. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled. BTW, I think you succeeded with you sunflower decoration. I knew what it was, also.

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  4. I love blackberries in fruit salads, not so much in pies, too many seed for me. I'll have to try your recipe for the pie crust - mine are usually a "hit and a miss".

    Have a great weekend Lili!

    Shebly

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  5. That is wonderful. We are at the end of picking our raspberries. We have been enjoying them fresh, in smoothies and on french toast and pancakes. I did manage to sneak some into the freezer to use later. Don't tell the kids.

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  6. Yum!!! The pie is beautiful and I bet delicious!

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  7. Ooh, pie! We don't seem to get wild blackberries around here--I'm wondering how different the taste is. I never really loved blueberries till I was able to get them fresh instead of from the supermarket--I'm wondering if I would feel the same about blackberries.

    Your decoration is beautiful. I keep my venting pie decorations very simple--I think your artistic talents must be at the forefront, because if I tried to do that, it would look like a big blog of nothing. :)

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  8. How lucky for you! Blackberries are super expensive for us in Salt Lake - unless I'm looking in the wrong places. It looks delicious.

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  9. Hi live and learn,
    I'm curious what it is about the wold blackberries that you like more than cultivated. We enjoy the wild ones but some people in our area complain about the seediness. (more fiber is what I say!) I hope you find a patch somewhere close by!

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  10. Hi Shelby,
    I hope the pie crust recipe works as well for you as it does for me. I've been using this recipe for about 25 or 26 years and have never tried any other since.
    Have a great week!

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  11. Hi Marybeth,
    we are at the tail end of our raspberries, too. Although I have some everbearing canes that should produce a small second crop later in summer, if we're lucky. It doesn't always happen. I was making blueberry pancakes one morning and ran out of blueberries so I made the last couple of cakes with raspberries and they were soooo good! I'll bee remembering those for when I have more raspberries again. I hope your hidden berries remain hidden!

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  12. Thanks, Lona! I wish I could send slices of this out to everyone!

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  13. Hi Kris,
    I doubt that about your talents! This one was easy -- I used a drinking glass as template to make a perfect center circle, and then the petals were easy to do free form. Anyway, a lot of times my vents are just slits to mark where I slice the pie, but lately I've felt the need to be creative.
    I hear you on the blueberries. I also feel that way about homegrown strawberries. Supermarket strawberries have very little flavor.

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  14. Hi Ruthie,
    the blackberries were something of a surprise to me when we first moved here from SLC. Growing up in the LA area, I'd only had blackberries a couple of times, and they came in tiny containers. Then in SLC I don't think we ever bought any. I do remember getting raspberries from Bear Lake, though, and those were yummy and not too expensive, if I recall correctly.
    I hope you're having a good summer!

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  15. Bear Lake raspberries are famous and delicious! They aren't cheap however. I think years ago they were. When they do go on sale at Sprouts, I'll grab a container or two and use them as a treat.

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  16. Hi Ruthie,
    Well, my memories of the Bear Lake raspberries and their pricing is from 31 years ago! I remember buying them from roadside stands. Maybe that has all changed. Also, like the blackberries in CA, we didn't get raspberries very often either, when I was growing up. So, maybe my thoughts on pricing then were influenced by not having them when I was growing up. It's funny what can affect our thoughts and perceptions.
    Are you able to grow raspberries on your property?

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