Berries Berries Everywhere

One of the best pieces of news that I received when we moved to Oregon was that they are known for their berries. I love berries. Even better, they have berry farms. Being from Alaska, this is like heaven on earth. Rows of perfectly manicured bushes with groomed paths and very few bugs or pests. This is in stark contrast to berry picking in Alaska.

Berry picking in Alaska consists of dousing yourself in mosquito dope, tromping through marshy moss land, being eaten alive by mosquitoes (despite the mosquito dope), stepping in moose poop, always keeping an eye out for bears, and ending up with maybe one cup of berries after an hour or so. The only thing that made it worth it was the blueberry sourdough pancakes that followed.


Anyhow, back to Oregon berries. Blackberries are considered the worst weed. Blackberries. A weed. Whatever, I eat the weeds.


So, last summer we discovered a berry farm (Rowell Bros Berry Farm - coincidence?) where berries are all you can eat and $.99 a pound. They have raspberries, marionberries, blackberries (that are the size of small plums), loganberries, and blueberries. I took my cousin Linnea (also a tortured Alaskan berry picker) last summer and we picked 7 pounds of berries in 30 minutes. She showed me an incredible raspberry pie recipe. I made the pie to take to Luke and Jen's over 4th of July weekend and I remembered how fantastic it is. I wanted to be sure to share:

Amazing Raspberry Pie:
4 cups of raspberries
2 tbsp + 1 tsp of corn starch
1 cup granulated sugar
1 pie crust
Whipped cream

Boil 1/2 cup raspberries in 1 cup water for 3 minutes. Strain liquid (works well with cheese cloth). Add sugar and corn starch to liquid and whisk over heat. Bring to a boil and simmer until syrup is clear and thickened (1-2 minutes). Cool syrup completely off stove.

Fold remaining berries into syrup in a large bowl until they are coated. Pour mixture into a baked, cooled pie crust. Top with whipped cream. Try not to eat the whole thing by yourself.