It's National Blueberry Pie Day 2022

 

Today is National Blueberry Pie Day. The first fruits of this year's harvest have just started arriving in the market. I can't think of a better time to heighten awareness of the blueberry or celebrate its place on our table. It is after all native to North America. The berries fed the first Americans for thousands of years. Colonial Americans used powdered blueberries as a food supplement. By the 1820s we began to enjoy them as flavorful desserts but it would take another century to develop a cultivar and build a blueberry industry, one that would include a pie.  

But enough of history  I'd rather think of the blueberry pie as sensory immersion. One needs to feel the dough as it's hand-mixed. Hear the fruit and sugar bubbling on the stove as it reduces into a thickened filling. See the pattern of the lattice work take shape across the filling in the pie shell. Smell the aroma of berries and pastry baking in the oven. Taste the product of your culinary skill and nature's unforgettable sweet berry bounty. Mouth watering yet?

Okay. So you want a pie. If you can't run to Publix and buy their award-winning version of this pie, I do have a solution. Below is the blueberry pie recipe we've enjoyed most in our  household for over forty years. It comes from The Southern Heritage Pies and Pastry Cookbook (1984), one of a series of nineteen books in The Southern Heritage Cookbook Library published by Southern Living.

Blueberry Pie

Berry Mixture:

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 cups fresh blueberries

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Pastry for 1 double-crust (9-inch) pie:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chilled shortening

5 to 6 tablespoons cold water



Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan, stirring well to remove lumps. Add berries; mix well. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Add butter, mixing well. Set mixture aside and let cool.

Combine flour and salt in medium bowl and cut in shortening until it resembles beach sand. Sprinkle water over surface and blend until dry ingredients are moistened. Shape dough into ball and chill. 

  

Roll half of the pastry to 1/8 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface; fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Pour cooled berry mixture into the pastry shell.

Roll remaining pastry into 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into 3/4 inch wide strips, and arrange in a lattice design over filling. Trim edges; seal and flute. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, and continue baking for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. 

Let cool. Serve. Enjoy!



A note of interest: The Southern Heritage Cookbook Library has served us well over the years. It's filled with classic Southern recipes, foodways history  personal anecdotes, and scores of photos and illustrations from Southern archives. Unfortunately it's available only in print. If you happen to find the cookbooks at a yard sale or your local charity, grab them. I'm so sure you'll be pleased  I'll bake you a blueberry pie from scratch if you feel otherwise.

Sources

Text:

extension.illinois.edu

Photos and Illustrations:

The Southern Heritage Pies and Pastry Cookbook (1984), The Southern Heritage Cookbook Library, Oxmoor House, Birmingham, Alabama