Blackberry Pie

Yes my friends, it’s time for blackberries! The season is here, the berries are ripe and ready for picking.

Blackberries grow wild here along the American River, and pretty much around all of the creeks and streams in California. Heck, they even grow wild in empty lots and neglected back yards in San Francisco.

Some friends and I went berry picking at the river this week and brought home a couple pounds of fresh, ripe, juicy berries, perfect for a pie.

And a perfect pie it is, or was. It didn’t last long.

Honestly I think it was one of the best pies I’ve ever made, and that’s saying something, because I like to make pie. The filling held together (instant tapioca is a great thickener), the additions of lemon, cinnamon, and almond extract just intensified and enhanced the blackberry flavor.

And the crust? Well, in my opinion, homemade pie is just an excuse to eat homemade butter crust.

Not everyone has access to wild blackberries. If that’s you, you can easily use market berries or frozen berries. Trader Joe’s carries a good quality bag of frozen mixed berries that would work perfectly well with this pie.

If you do have a blackberry bush nearby, pick mostly berries that are all black, or deeply purple. If you pick a few berries that are still a little red, they’re not quite ripe and will be rather tart. But you can include them in the mix. The extra pectin in the unripe berries will help the pie thicken.

A truly ripe berry should be easy to pick. You shouldn’t have to tug on it too much to get it off of the vine.

Wear long pants and a long sleeved shirt for picking, the thicker the cloth the better, as you’ll need protection from the berry plant’s many many (ouch) thorns. Put the berries in a bucket or thick plastic bag. The juice from the berries will go through any paper bag.

Blackberry Pie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 pie dough recipe for top and bottom crust
• 5-6 cups blackberries, rinsed, picked clean, patted dry (if you use frozen berries, defrost and drain them)
• 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup sugar (depending on how sweet your berries are)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 to 4 Tbsp quick cooking instant tapioca, flour, OR cornstarch (use 3 Tbsp if making the pie with wild-picked berries, 4 Tbsp if making the pie with store-bought very ripe berries)

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