Blackberries: Pie or Ice Cubes

Blackberries: Pie or Ice Cubes

Here in Oklahoma, the blackberry picking is great. A favorite pick-your-own orchard is just east of the City at a place called Sorghum Mill Tree and Blackberry Farm. Owners John and Jean Knight provide containers if you don’t bring your own and have acres and acres of blackberries on wire trellises with pathways between the rows.

That is neither here nor there. What is super is that if you have access to berries, you can make yourself a wonderfully nutritious pie including a homemade crust that is as flaky and tasty as store-bought, but far more healthful. Or, you can just nab a handful out of the refrigerator or freezer and munch!

Blackberries are great to handle. Easy pickin’ and easy to store. Rinse them off generously, towel dry them and pop ‘em in good quality freezer bags. They’ll last for 6 months! And while you’ll pay a ton at the local store (here we pay roughly $4 for 6 ounces in the store), if you pick your own, you can get 16 ounces for $2.25! And since the berries are thumb-sized, it doesn’t take long to get enough for several pies.

Want interesting ice cubes? Pull out a frozen blackberry from your freezer bag and toss it in a glass of soda, a mixed drink or a morning glass of fruit juice. It cools off the liquid and provides nutritious procyanthins (that which gives fruits their color) your body needs.

For a great pie, just combine 4 cups of washed and towel-dried fresh or frozen berries, thawed, with ½ cup (or ‘to taste’) of sugar and 3 tablespoons of tapioca. Let these rest while you make your crust.

Combine 2 cups of unbleached flour with a whisper of salt and ½ tablespoon of baking powder. Then take 2/3 cup of oil (preferably Smart Balance as it has a blend of soy, olive and canola oils) and add 3 tablespoons of very cold water. Mix until it is a milky white. Next dump the flour mixture on to the oil and water, mixing only enough to get all the flour moist.

Put the dough onto a square of waxed paper, roll it up tightly and put it in the refrigerator for an hour. Don’t scrimp on time – the colder (but not frozen) the dough is, the flakier the crust. After the hour is up, open up the waxed paper, cut the dough into two roughly even pieces.

Between two pieces of waxed paper, roll out one piece of dough into a circle slightly bigger than your pie plate. Lift off one piece of waxed paper and flip the dough into the pie plate, pulling off the other piece of waxed paper carefully.

Roll out the other piece of dough so it is ready to top the pie. You CAN make a lattice out of the dough, or you can just cover the pie with a solid piece.

Put your berry mixture into the pie plate and dot with pieces of about a tablespoon of butter-flavored margarine. Cover the pie and place on a sheet of tinfoil in case the juices spill over. Cook at 425 degrees F for 40 minutes. Cover edges with foil for final 10 minutes.

Be sure to let the pie cool before you cut and serve – and just enjoy!