Berry Delicious Summer Pies

In her 2009 novel Home Safe, Elizabeth Berg explores how women move forward after unexpected loss. Berg’s protagonist likens life to gathering summer berries into an apron with a hole in it. “Why do we keep on?” the newly widowed Helen Ames asks. She answers herself:

“because the berries are beautiful, and we must eat to survive. We catch what we can. We walk past what we lose for the promise of more, just ahead.”

Making pie with Maine summer berries is a promising act. Pie is made to be shared; optimistic thinking in this time of isolation. Pie also pays tribute to the people who bring these ingredients to the plate: those who tend wild blueberry barrens, cultivate fresh strawberries, forage elderberries, brave the thorns of blackberry thickets, and grow wheat (also called “berries”) to be milled into flour.

Amber Lambke, founder of Maine Grains, Inc., a Skowhegan milling operation that sources grains and cereals from Northeastern farmers, has definite ideas about the perfect pie crust. The best of her products for making a short pastry crust is the organic wheat pastry flour. This flour is low in protein, resulting in a tender, flaky crust. “The aroma … is simply buttery,” says Lambke, adding that she also uses plenty of actual butter in her crust. Our pie dough recipe is an adaptation of one of Lambke’s.

Denise Alexander married into a wild blueberry–tending family over 30 years ago. During the hectic summer harvest on her family’s 40-acre Greenfield farm, she doesn’t have time to bake with fresh berries. Her favorite treatment for just-picked blueberries (10-pound boxes of which are sold on the farm) is in her morning bowl of Special K. When she does make pie, Alexander uses frozen wild Maine berries and the same recipe. Her secret lies in layering filling ingredients into the pastry dough. She adds enough berries to measure just below the rim of the pie plate, then adds flour and uses her hand to gently sift it down through the berries, coating them to stop the sugar (sprinkled on next) from clumping. She flavors the pie with cinnamon and lemon juice, like we do in our Maine Wild Blueberry and Cinnamon Hand Pies recipe. Alexander places thin slices of butter across the filling’s surface before covering and crimping the crust. The result? “It’s perfect every time,” says Alexander. Brunswick’s Abbie Sewall is an elderberry advocate. Once an elderberry farmer in Freeport, she currently operates a website on how this indigenous bush is easily propagated, used as an immune booster, and included in many culinary creations, including pie.

When she grew her own and had a significant supply, Sewall used fresh or frozen elderberries as the primary pie ingredient. Since elderberries have gained traction as an antioxidant, they’ve become quite dear. She suggests a more affordable option is adding a handful of dried ones to a favorite apple pie recipe. The berries soften as they cook (to 130 degrees to neutralize the naturally occurring cyanides), giving the pie juices a purple hue; a tart, earthy flavor; and an interesting crunch. The following recipes are our attempt at showcasing the Maine summer berry bounty. If you have a pretty berry pie you’d like to share with edible Maine readers, post a picture with the tag @ediblemaine and use #prettyMaineberrypies and we’ll pass it along.