Wild Maine Blueberries might be getting all the attention now, especially with an early, abundant crop, but I’ve also been seeking the prized summer stash of blackberries. Their tart-sweet winey flavor is perfect for classic pies, cobblers, jams and sauces.
Blackberries at the market now
According to area farmers, however, these wild berries found in brambles and roadside bushes looked early on to be a bumper crop. But the drought hasn’t been kind to them, resulting in smaller berries; you’d be hard pressed to find those plump berries at farmers’ markets, especially from farmers in Cumberland County. At the Portland farmer’s the vendors that have them now include Goranson Farm, Snell Farm and Thirty Acre Farm. At the Cumberland Farmer’s Market, the Pleasant Valley Acres Farm and Valley View Farm are a good source, and Valley View has a nice supply of an heirloom variety—with less seeds—from old bushes.
Prices range from $4 for a half pint (Snell Farm) to $5 and $6 for a pint from the other farmers mentioned previously. For most preparations you’ll need 4 cups, the yield from 2 pint containers.
Heirloom blackberries from Pleasant Valley Acres Farm at the Cumberland Farmer’s Market
Blackberries also freeze well so that you can use them throughout the year, bringing a little bit of summer back to the dessert table. As you would for most berries follow this procedure to freeze: lay the buries in a single layer on parchment-lined baking sheets and freeze until hard, about an hour. Then transfer to freezer containers or freezer bags. They will last for about a year. When using frozen berries in a baked dessert recipe, generally unthawed is best.
So far I’ve made a rich blackberry pie and an unusual cobbler comprised of a very sweet biscuit crust that lends itself beautifully to this assertively flavored berry.
Classic Blackberry Pie
I like an all-lard crust for blackberry pie. Though I caution you to make sure you get leaf lard since rendered pork lard based on just various bits of fat from the pig can taste very gamey. It should be pure white; if it’s a bit off and lightly brown either the lard has been rendered too hard or it’s not leaf lard. The best source locally is from Rosemont Market. They render leaf lard from heritage pigs. The butcher shop at the Farm Stand in South Portland also sells leaf lard, though I haven’t tried theirs yet.
I’ve also made the pie with a lard-butter crust, which is a nice foil for these berries. To 2 1/2 cups flour cut in 2 sticks butter, 4 tablespoons lard, well chilled, 1 tablespoon sugar, a pinch salt, about 1/2 cup water and process in the usual way either with a food processor or pastry blender.
The tricky to prepare cobbler dough (inset) bakes up beautifully
When I made a cobbler earlier in the week I considered preparing Edna Lewis’s classic cobbler made with a lard pastry but opted for an unusual one from southern chef and cookbook author Ronni Lundy from her excellent book, Butter Beans to Blackerries. Inside she chronicles the cooking of the rural south, especially Appalachia. Her crust is a very sweet, one that emerges as a cakelike shortbread biscuit. It offered fantastic flavor and texture. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it was berry-cobbler heaven.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose or soft-wheat southern flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup local buttermilk
- 6 cups blackberries
- Lard Crust (or use lard-butter crust)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 cup lard, in small pieces, well chilled
- 1 egg, separated
- About 1/3 to 1/2 cup cold milk (see recipe)
- Egg wash made with 1 beaten egg and tablespoon cream or milk
- Raw sugar (sold as Demerara or turbinado sugar), for dusting
- Filling
- 4 cups (or more) blackberries
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- A few gratings nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons butter, cubed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter an 8-inch square baking dish.
- To make the cobbler dough and asssemble, put the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Then add 1 cup of the sugar and whisk to combine until thoroughly incorporated.
- Cut the butter into small pieces (it doesn’t have to be chilled but just out of the refrigerator is fine or even slightly softened). Spread them evenly around the flour mixture and using your fingers or pastry cutter, work in the butter until mostly blended.
- Add 1/2 cup buttermilk and incorporate it into the dough using a rubber spatula, wooden spoon or your hands until it’s combined. The dough will be fairly sticky. If it’s not add more buttermilk by spoonful.
- Mix 1 cup of the berries with the remaining cup of sugar. Stir gently with a wooden spoon or by hand to distribute the sugar evenly. Put this into the prepared dish. Put the remaining un-sugared berries over the top. The purpose of this is that the bottom berry layer will bake up jam-like while the top layer remains fairly whole.
- With floured hands pinch off golf-ball size pieces of dough and place on top of the berries, almost touching. You’ll have some spaces between the dough but it will spread as it bakes.
- Bake 45 to 50 minutes until nicely golden and the fruit is bubbling underneath. Allow to cool before serving but still warm. The topping is so rich that it can be served without ice cream but it won’t hurt if you do. Store covered in the refrigerator if you have leftovers.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Lard pastry. Using a whisk, combine the flour, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl or pulse in the workbowl of a food processor.
- Add the lard and process or cut in with pastry cutter until the dough is the texture of small peas. Using a fork or pulsing in the processor, add the 1 egg yolk mixed with enough milk to measure 2/3 cup. Gradually add to the flour mixture until it holds together and is slightly moist.
- Form into two balls and flatten each to 2 disks about an inch thick. Wrap in plastic or waxed paper and chill for at least 1 hour before rolling out.
- Filling: Combine 3 1/2 cups of the blackberries with the 1/3 cup sugar and grated nutmeg. Put this into the prepared bottom crust. Top with the un-sugared remaining berries. Dot the top with butter cubes.
- Put on the top crust, forming a decorative border. Make an egg wash with 1 beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon milk or cream. Brush the top and rim with the egg wash. Lightly sprinkle the top with Turbinado sugar. Make 6 slits in the pie for steam to escape.
- Put on a baking sheet lined with parchment and bake for 20 minutes. Lower temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake until the top crust is nicely browned and the filling is bubbling, about 40 minutes.
