Blackberries are ripening around Laurelville right now.

Ordinary Spouse picked three quarts yesterday morning and made jam. I picked another quart last evening that OS plans to use in a pie. My parents are stopping by later today to pick up Middle Daughter (who will be with them for the next week). If we can tempt them with pie, maybe they’ll stay a while.

This isn’t our first blackberry pie of the season. When OS made the first pie, I took a bite and was fairly certain it was one of the best fruit pies I’d ever tasted – probably the combination of freshly picked fruit and warmth straight from the oven.

If you have some fresh berries nearby, you might want to try out this recipe from the Simply in Season cookbook:

Prepare a 9″ pastry shell. In the bottom of the crust sprinkle a small amount of the sugar. Mix remaining sugar and tapioca together then add the fruit. Pour into the pie crust. Sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake in preheated oven at 425 °F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 °F and continue baking for 25-30 minutes.

4 C blackberries
½ C sugar
3 T quick tapioca

Crumb topping: Mix together 1 C flour and ½ C sugar. Cut in 3 T butter and 1 T oil to make crumbs.