If I were to request a last meal it would be Dungeness crab,and little wild balckberry pie.



The farking logging companies now spray with herbacides making these much harder to find than they once were.

If you have a patch where I can pick a gallon in a day - I'm there!

Hey Brett, thanks for thinking of me.

I finally got enough for a pie. And one of yours all my old fat belly needs. But I appreciate the thought.

it always amazes me how many people live here and know nothing about a little wild blackberry. I guess that's a good thing.

Again today I was stopped by a woman who said "I didn't know they are ripe yet. And then pointed to a bramble of Evergreens and Himalayas. Jeesh. I would think folks who live here might learn a bit about our flora.

Thanks for reminding me about picking buckets. We used Folgers cans with wire bails.

Sounds like a well balanced approach!

Nothing better than. little wild blackberry pie. When's dinner?

After all the scratches and miles hiked this is the end product. My wife is a great cook besides being beautiful and smart. I am truly a fortunate man.

Pure goodness right there!

The vacuum-packed remnants from last year's bounty are about gone. Gonna have to get the women folk out with me to replenish our supply....

I'm still wondering where the recipe is in this thread.....

No, not really.

As one who makes a damn fine pie from scratch, I'm always curious to see how others make their crusts and what they add to the berries to create the filling.

Not to mention this is the Recipe Vault and not the look at pretty pictures of fruit vault.



That's a great looking pie. How about sharing the recipe with us?

Can't be seen under Mac/Chrome (even if you have the secret code).

I'll have Mrs. Twitch put together a recipe... Possibly.
It's what she does for a living, but she goes by scratch/look/feel, and scolds me when I measure and follow recipes.

sorry guys no recipe for me. Like most really find cooks the wife just does what feels good.

That's how my wife does it too.
Apparently what feels good doesn't taste good when she's involved.
She actually made some plum jam the other day that was pretty good.
The plums are peaking right now....every few minutes another one drops.

Maybe she'll make some feel good plum wine ?

Normal.
Stop whining and dig in.

My neighbors house was/is still loaded with them....


So, I picked some...




about 6lbs worth...





Then, i made one of these...

"Thanks for reminding me about picking buckets. We used Folgers cans with wire bails."

Yeah that - then after we fulfilled mom's requirements for berries, we'd sell them to the local restaurant for $7/pail. Made some pretty good money for grade-school kids back in the day.

Dave,

Don't complain that most people don't know the difference between native blackberries and the evergreens and Himalayas. There's a lot of competition for prime picking patches (S side of 3-5 y.o. clear cuts used to be where we scouted.) Native black berry pie is further proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy, and full.

Sg

You are right of course. But most of the clear-cuts I have scouted recently have been sprayed with herbacide. They have no berries or stunted half dead vines that I'm afraid to eat the fruit from.

If anyone wants to share a not-too-secret spot I might be willing to trade for a good chantrell location.

Looks good Hank. If made from the big blackberries Its an eight. If made from the little native berries it's an 11.

Headed to Las Cragis Sunday. We will miss ya. I may scout around there to see if they have the little wild blackberries.

made two more tonight...

The main problem, aside from being a pest weed, with invasive Evergreen and Himalaya blackberries is their large seeds. Straining the juice from the Himalaya seeds makes a good jelly. The native blackberries are small and have very small seeds that don't need to be extracted for making pies, jams, or jellies. I'm not positive, but I think the natural fructose content is higher relative to the exotics as well.

Hank,

Your location description reads like the perfect place to find Himalayan blackberries, not the native variety. Until you've had a pie made from each it's hard to appreciate the difference. I think FP's comparison is a bit exaggerated. Himilayas have good flavor, but the seeds are a pain, and they do rank lower on the quality scale. Native blackberries go for around $30 a gallon theses days, while there is next to no commercial market for Himalayas, so the berry experts probably know a thing or two. The Cider Mill sells pies made by some local little old grannies. The native blackberry pies are priced double the cost of apple, peach, marionberry, or any other fruit.

Sg

FP, nobody who is aware of the difference makes pies from Himalayas. If you had blackberry pie last week, the least you could have done is invite me over.

2 That's Las Craigas not Las vegas. I never saw any little black ones in Las Craigas. But i do try to keep an open mind.

Welp, better throw these himalayan cobblers out then, huh?

Driftfishnw,

Nope. Just keep a toothpick handy to pick out the seeds. The cobbler's still good, just not perfect.

Sg

you guys got me goin, so me and Katie went and banged out 3/4s of a gallon in no time...

theres probably 500k more that arent even near ripe yet, still green, and some reds that should be good coming up...

i think we will do a pie tonight maybe

I know a bunch of you are going to get all hunched up when I say this, but the BEST pie is made with red huckleberries.

Oh yes................yes it is.

Dan,

I truly think AC DC blew out some of yer taste buds. Now iffn you were talking about the little tiny black ones that ripen in Oct. on Whidbey and in the Belfair area, well then yer talking. I bet not one in 100 have ever tasted that pie. They are a royal pain in the ass to pick, but oh so yummy in a pie. I grin and think of you everytime I walk by my big fir stump upon which a huge red huckleberry sat . . . . till I pulled it up.

decided that the one last week wasnt enough...

not done yet, soon tho...

8+ cups of blackies in this bad boy...

Nate didn't like blackberry pie til he found out Dave Vedder ate it.

yeah she cooked it... i mashed the berries a bit tho, and picked them... i cut her off cuz she was pickin too many redish ones, and i kept whappin em off the back of her head, she didnt learn tho...

FIRED!

RedHook,

Ya, I would fire her also, she forgot the hole in the center. Think American Pie.

thanks alot jerk....



i just came around the corner with my dick in the pie and she threw a freakin fork at me that stuck in the drywall....

see what happens when i listen to people?

8 cups? I thought the standard recipe is 4 cups, i.e., one quart of berries for a pie. BTW, crust doesn't look tender by uneven thickness and color variation. But congratulations if you picked the 8 cups of blackberries. That has to be the most work you've ever done that's been documented here on PP.

Sg

Pie is alot of work... I prefer a blackberry infused vodka martini... when the vodka is gone add a little cream and sugar and pour it over ice cream

Hot damn! That's right up my alley!

yes 8 cups... and 4 is fine if you have a small pan... thats not very small of a pan... im not trying to make Hostess pocket pies...

the "standard" recipe we used called for 6 cups, we did it that way the first time, but thought it could get better with 8 cups, so, we did it, and guess what?

it WAS better

(BTW, the crust is about as even as you can get, since i told her to just go but the Pillsbury pre made pie crusts in a box )


Piper, looks good... do you add sugar to the berries before hand?

those are stains from the previous owner Hank, if you are talking about the backside... the foil on the bottom is to keep steak and fish fizzle from getting down there, and the racks are stained... other than that, its actually pretty clean...

we have lived here 7 years, that oven gets used anywhere between 1-3 times per day... every day... do the math

EB told me to think about American Pie, and thats what i came up with

maybe a Calzone will be next, but i should probably wait till it cools down, dont want another accident down there ya know?

[Bleeeeep!] Hank. That was petty!

Love me raspberries. I ate my self sick too many times as a youngster I think. They are good but I would take a rasp or blue over a blackberry.

Hank, I know you like to play dumb now and then. At least I hope you're just playing. But in this case I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about.
If not, explaining it to you won't help.

I see that a couple of young men need a time out.




















3 second oogle and that's it, pigs.

I think Hank believes Ms. Redhook could do a lot better. Lets hope she never reads t his. Just may be the reassurance she needs.

"Seemingly"

I see what you did there.