Blue Ribbon Blueberry Pie

Diane Mann contributed this recipe and she won a blue ribbon for it at the Blueberry Festival in Machias.  Is it a coincidence that I chose to make this pie during the week that we would normally have held the Maine Wild Blueberry Festival/Union Fair here in Union, Maine, were it not for COVID-19 precautions? 

I am pleased to note that this recipe is the 100th recipe I have made from the Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook. In theory, that puts me halfway to the finish line...except that there are actually a few more than the 200 recipes the cookbook claims on its cover. Which is fine by me, since I consider extra recipes a bonus! I love that blueberries are so deeply a part of the Maine experience, and I wanted to celebrate that by baking this pie as my 100th recipe.

I can see why the pie won a blue ribbon. It has a surprise when you bite into it. You may be expecting a baked blueberry pie, when in truth, underneath the cooked blueberries hide loads of fresh wild Maine blueberries! The fresh berries ooze blueberry goodness, while the blueberry mixture on top invites you in. I'm quite sure if we had a happiness measure--you know, like a thermometer measures temperature--that blueberry pie would be the epitome of happiness.

The trick to this pie, being as how there are fresh blueberries involved, is that you have to prebake the crust. I am always a little anxious as my crusts bake in the oven, hovering nearby, hoping it doesn't undercook or burn. This crust behaved very well, nicely browned, but not too much, and I put it to cool in the window while I cooked the mixture for the top of the pie.

I picked up the wild Maine blueberries from Beth's Market, just down the road apiece. Don't you just love local language? "Down the road apiece" could be 100 yards or five miles. I think Beth's is somewhere in-between. And they carry wonderful fresh local produce.

Stay tuned for the next 100+ recipes, won't you? All to be completed by the end of this Bicentennial year.  Have you ever tried eel? Or made homemade kielbasa? I haven't, but it will be an adventure trying these and so many more recipes from the cookbook.





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