Evan’s Boysenberry Pie

PIE-A-DAY #18

Sometimes you find fruit in the strangest place. Like a supermarket. Imagine that! I was doing a top speed run through of the Whole Foods produce section to make dinner for a client when I saw it. A cart of blackberry boxes piled high wheeled by. I looked at the top of the tower and there they were, plump, ripe Boysenberries, one case atop dozens of ollailies from an organic California grower. My relationship with Boysenberries developed when I was a kid. To me a great blackberry is a boysen. So of course I took the whole box home. I used half the case for a pie and the other half to make canned pie filling (but that story is for another day).

Trust yourself. Don’t measure the sugar. Let your mouth be your guide.

-Evan

Keep reading for the recipe…

Your favorite recipe for double crust

Boysenberry Pie

5 cups Boysenberry

Sugar to Taste

Squeeze of lemon juice

3 tablespoons flour

Pinch salt

Everything must be done gently with ripe berries. Place berries in mixing bowl. Taste one. Will one tablespoon of sugar make them sweet enough for you? Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of sugar over the berries, gently mix and taste a berry. More sugar? Continue adding a tablespoon at a time until they are sweet enough for you. Don’t overdo it. Slightly less sweet is better than too sweet. Add the squeeze of lemon and gently mix.

Next spinkle the flour over the berries and gently mix.

Tuck your rolled out crust into the pie pan and pour the berries in. Lay the top crust over the berries then roll and crimp your edges. Make an even number of symetrically placed vents so that the steam can exit the pie. This help prevents the berry juices from boiling out.

Place the pie on the lower rack of a preheated 425º oven. Bake for 20 minutes then turn oven down to 375º. Cook for an additional 25-35 minutes or until the crust is golden and the juices are thickened.

Turn pie in oven at least twice during the baking to help it cook more evenly.

If the crust starts to darken too quickly compared to how fast the filling is cooking then cover the pie with aluminum foil.

Let the pie cool down before you cut and serve. The fruit juices will continue to thicken as the pie cools.