Enough Berries for a Pie
He came to the door with a gallon bag filled 1/4 of the way with red huckleberries and asked, “Are these enough berries for a pie?” Enough? Oh my gosh. It must have taken hours to pick so many.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
It’s more common to see blue huckleberries that look like the small cousins of blueberries. These little red jewels are found in the coastal mountain forests from Washington to Alaska and ripen in late August and early September. When they are ready, their tart flavor just cries out for a pie making session.
He told me that it’s really hard to pick enough to bring home for a pie because…well, it’s too easy to snack on them when you are hiking in the wild! This reminds me of the book Blueberries for Sal. Did you read it when you were little or maybe to your children when they were young?
Anyway, let’s get back to the red huckleberries. There was a bush growing out of a tree stump on my land in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains and somewhere I have a photo of my 2-year-old Duncan eating them with not much else on him except the red juice dripping down his tummy and his sticky hands! Ah those are such wonderful memories.
Enough for a pie? “Absolutely there’s enough!”
So the very next day I made this pie…
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
with a ruffly lattice top crust to celebrate those special berries.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
My berry picker showed up a few minutes before it came out of the oven, and when it did I asked if I could take a picture of him holding it. His sweet dog Zoë definitely had her eye on the pie, too.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
To make this pie, use these directions but substitute huckleberries. Please note: that since red huckleberries are tart, I left out the lemon and I used about 2.5 tablespoons of quick cooking tapioca. Be sure to let the pie cool all the way so the filling can set up, too. And if you do go picking, make sure you can identify what you have.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Thanks for the berries, Kevin! Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The post Enough Berries for a Pie appeared first on Art of the Pie®.
