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MichaelMeckler.com: Blog: Food on Friday: Blackberry pie

Food on Friday: Blackberry pie

8 JULY 2016

I've been a busy boy this morning, baking up a blackberry pie using berries picked from the garden.

The blackberry plants are a variety named Illini Hardy. The variety was developed at the University of Illinois in 1980 and became commercially available in 1988. The major advantage of this variety is its cold-hardiness, and I can attest that the plants survived (though the many of the fruiting canes did not) after the recent severe winters of 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Illini Hardy produces berries that are a little smaller than the berries seen in grocery stores (most of which are grown in warmer climates). Illini Hardy berries are more flavorful but also more acidic and not as sweet as what you find in the stores. For fresh eating, a little sugar is needed, but the strongly flavored berries make a wonderful pie.

The pie is cooling on the stovetop — as you can see in this photo — and we'll taste how it turned out later tonight.

 

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