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Harvest makes for a delicious berry pie

THE OLYMPIAN | • Published October 07, 2009

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With more than 200 types of plants in stock, The Perennial Gardener in Olympia houses an incredible assortment of annuals, perennials, herbs and amazing vegetation.

I strolled up and down the aisles poking through frilly fronds and inhaling fragrant greens like the luscious Meyer lime tree.

Though I couldn’t identify the majority of the plants, it posed no problem for Michaele Dazell, who owns the business. Her years in the industry and this area allow her and her staff to provide knowledgeable and personal service.

Dazell reminded me that autumn is an excellent time of year for certain plantings. Fall weather will give them time for their roots to settle in, and the need for watering is significantly less than in the spring or summer. Today I am focused on the joys of having incidental edibles on your property. These are trees or bushes that produce food to enjoy but do not put you into a serious farmer category.

Our property is laced with such beauties. This summer our peach tree, laden with rosy peaches, bent to the ground. We enjoyed a handful of small but sweet nectarines. The apricots were fun, too.

Last summer, we were loaded with various types of blueberries, but apparently word got out and the deer, raccoons or some other critters snuck in under the cover of darkness (or in broad daylight when we weren’t looking) and ate all but three berries. I imagine they liked them.

We also have an army of huckleberry bushes scattered around our property. They provide evergreen leaves, low ground cover and, best of all, huckleberries. Now we are in the midst of that harvest.

Huckleberries are small, dark purple berries that are easy to access (no nasty thorns like blackberries) but slow to pick. They don’t roll off like blueberries but must be more carefully plucked.

I guess these berries are just too time-consuming for the animals to pick, or maybe they are don’t like the taste because we still have plenty of them.

My husband has invented what he calls Zen picking – that means he goes out for an hour or for part of a baseball game and picks what he can during that time. His production is just more than a cup an hour.

Huckleberries keep well in the freezer, so you can accumulate them. With the sunny afternoons we’ve had, my husband picked enough for a pie – and that is a good five cups. Our landscaper expressed surprise when he learned we had made a pie solely with huckleberries – but my, what a pie it makes! For starters, huckleberries have a distinctive taste. Pure yum. They don’t show up in many jams or on many produce shelves, so their scarcity puts them at a premium. They are bright and tangy and seem to be perfectly happy underneath a golden, flaky pie crust.

A few well-planted huckleberry bushes will provide you with a pleasant harvest of fruit – enough for a pie or at least a few batches of muffins and pancakes. They also complement other berries in pies, if you don’t have the time or inclination to pick five cups at one time.

My husband and son baked a scrumptious huckleberry (with a few blackberries thrown in) pie.

The filling recipe for the pie originated from “Joy of Cooking” with a few tweaks from my husband. His crust recipe comes from some long-since-forgotten place. It works for him every time and he likes that.

Happy picking and Bon appetit!

Mary Ellen Psaltis lives locally and eats globally. You can reach her at TheRecipeWriter@hotmail.com.

Huckleberry Pie

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

5 cups huckleberries

22/3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca

2/3 to 1 cup sugar

11/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon (to sprinkle on top only)

Mix gently and let sit for at least 15 minutes. This is a good time to make the dough.

2 cups sifted flour

11/2 sticks softened sweet butter

1 teaspoon salt

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Cut in butter and work with fingers until it resembles corn meal. Add one-third cup ice water. Work to firm dough quickly. Knead slightly to roll out. Divide in half for a top and bottom crust. Add filling.

Bake pie at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake 40-45 minutes more. Remove and cool. A scoop of ice cream goes quite nicely with the warm pie.

The Perennial Gardener

5424 Boston Harbor Road N.E., Olympia; 360-754-8084