Summer Three-Berry Pie

Isn't summer glorious? The fruit, especially, seems especially jewel-like this year. And oh my, if fruity jewels don't glisten in this beautiful triple-berry pie. It's an all-berry mix of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries ... although, surprise, if you look carefully, some times I throw in some cherries too.

Real Food, Sweet & Seasonal. A Pie with Beautiful Color! A Summer Classic & A Long-Time Family Favorite. Potluck & Party Friendly. Vegetarian.

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Do You Hear It? Do You Hear It?!

Ever heard a pie shout like sunbeams, “Glory, it’s summer!”?

Summer Three-Berry Pie does! Or at least you’ll think you hear such jumpin'-for-joy exuberance with your first jewel-flavored bite.

This is pie unadorned: no cream, little sugar, a simple oats 'n' almonds streusel topping. It’s so much about plump, ripe, luscious berries that even a crust hardly seems necessary.

And in fact, without the crust, the filling itself makes for a lovely fruit crumble, delicious served warm or chilled – and for almost half the calories!

My favorite blend for this pie is a half-pint each of raspberries and blackberries, two pints of blueberries and filled to the top with sweet strawberries. I make it only when the berries are at their very best – and importantly, also at their most plentiful and thus their cheapest.

For a special treat, top with vanilla ice cream or spiced whipped cream and serve with cold sweet tea.

About This Recipe

• Summer Three-Berry Pie is all about summer berries, a mix of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or strawberries. The bottom crust is either a homemade pastry (your own favorite or use my Flaky Tender Pie Crust) or a store-bought crust. There's no top crust, instead the pie is finished with a simple sweet crumb topping, just a little brown sugar, oats and flour rubbed together with a bit of butter and tossed with a few almonds.
• Distinctive Ingredients = all those berries!
• Short Ingredient List = sugar + tapioca flour (or instant tapioca) + lemon zest & juice + the above + butter + brown sugar + oats + flour + sliced almonds
• This hands-on time for this pie is only about 15 minutes but allow a full 4 hours start-to-finish, including time for baking, cooling and setting.
• This pie is so pretty! Thanks to a minimalist topping, the berries get to show off their gorgeous color.
• This recipe makes one deep-dish pie.
• Not into pie? Skip the bottom crust and bake a Summer Triple-Berry Crisp.
• Not quite what you're looking for? Check out my other recipes for pies & tarts. I've been a pie baker since my first pumpkin pie at age 16, there are a bunch!

How to Use Tapioca for Thickening Fruit Pies.

WHAT IS TAPIOCA? [pronounced tap-ee-OH-ka] If you've had tapioca pudding, you've had tapioca. But what the heck is it, anyway? Tapioca is a plant-based starch made from the roots of the cassava plant. It comes in three forms: tapioca pearls, instant tapioca and tapioca flour (some times called tapioca starch).

Tapioca, especially the already-ground tapioca flour, is great for thickening fruit pies, it thickens without adding flavor and without the gumminess of cornstarch or flour. Hands down, tapioca flour is my favorite thickener for fruit pies.

WHERE TO BUY TAPIOCA FLOUR? In recent years, tapioca flour has become a little easier to find at good grocery stores. Check the baking aisle, near the cornstarch, it might be there. More often, I find tapioca flour on the shelves with other Bob's Red Mill products.

UPDATE You can buy tapioca flour on Amazon. What can't you buy on Amazon anymore?!)

BUT WHAT ABOUT INSTANT TAPIOCA?

IS IT THE SAME AS TAPIOCA FLOUR? (No.)

CAN INSTANT TAPIOCA BE USED TO THICKEN PIES? (Yes. With a Little Extra Effort.)

For a long while, my usual grocery stores only carried instant tapioca! What's a pie baker to do?!

You see, instant and especially tapioca pearls don't always get enough liquid from a pie's fruit. So instead of dissolving as tapioca should, little bits of tapioca remain.

If you've ever found hard little bits in a pie, it might well be tapioca that hasn't dissolved well. So before using instant tapioca, I run it through the food processor with the sugar, the two together process better than just tapioca alone.

WHAT ABOUT TAPIOCA PEARLS? I really thought that the same technique would work with tapioca pearls. But it doesn't! A food processor does absolutely nothing to grind tapioca pearls into powder or flour. Yep, I tried. And tried. And tried.

Join Us for #PieDayFriday?

In 2016, I started baking a pie every Friday. Here's the story! We call it #PieDayFriday! I'd love to have you join the fun for a week, a month, a year, whatever you can manage!

Or maybe just on Pi Day, that's 3/14 ... get it, get it? March 14th!

Bookmark! PIN! Share!

How do you save and share favorite recipes? recipes that fit your personal cooking style? a particular recipe your mom or daughter or best friend would just love? If this recipe for a beautiful berry pie inspires you, please do save and share! I'd be honored ...

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SUMMER THREE-BERRY PIE

Filling hands-on time: 15 minutes
Filling rest time: 45 minutes
Baking time: 55 minutes
Cooling & setting time: about 4 hours
Makes 1 deep dish pie

BERRIES
• 7 – 8 cups mixed berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, even cherries)
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour (see ALANNA's TIPS for instant tapioca)
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

TOPPING
• 1 tablespoon salted butter, cold from the fridge, cut in small bits
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oatmeal
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds

ASSEMBLE
• 1 unbaked pie crust, homemade or a good-quality store-bought refrigerated pie crust

BERRIES Wash the berries, draining excess water off in a colander. Cut large strawberries and blackberries into raspberry-sized pieces. In an eight-cup container, mix the sugar, tapioca flour and lemon zest. Then stir in the lemon juice. Add fruit to complete the eight cups and stir gently. Set the fruit aside to macerate for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally from the bottom.

TOPPING Blend the topping ingredients with a fork in a small bowl and set aside.

PREP THE OVEN Place an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Place a metal baking sheet upside down on that rack. Heat the oven to 425F/220C, the baking sheet will also get very hot. These extra steps help the bottom crust brown and crisp up.

ASSEMBLE Once the oven is hot, assemble the pie, working quickly so the fruits' juices don't soak into the crust. To assemble, prepare a pie crust as directed for in a metal (preferably, for good browning) deep-dish pie pan and spread the crust over the pan. With a slotted spoon, transfer the macerated fruit into the crust, leaving the juices behind. (Smoothie time!) Spread the Topping evenly over the Berries.

BAKE AT HIGH HEAT FOR 15 MINUTES Place the pie on to the hot baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

REDUCE HEAT TO FINISH BAKING Reduce the oven temperature to 350F/180C and continue baking the pie for another 25 to 40 minutes (30 minutes is perfect in my oven). Watch the color, if the crust or the streusel begin to brown too much, gently and loosely cover the top with foil. The pie is done when the crust is brown and crisp and the filling is hot and thick with bubbles.

COOL Transfer pie to a rack and cool for at least three hours to set. Refrigerate the pie to continue setting the filling.

ALANNA's TIPS When mixing the fruit, stir together the less-tender strawberries and blueberries first, then add the very tender raspberries and blackberries. If you prefer your own crust, choose a rich and sweet “short crust” and add the zest of a lemon for extra zing. You’ll want to prepare the crust while the fruit is macerating. If you’re particular about appearance, do allow time for Summer Three-Berry Pie to set. I've learned to make pies early in the day, breakfast time isn't too early.

FOR INSTANT TAPIOCA Tapioca is what thickens the berry juices, it's an essential ingredient. Without some form of tapioca, the pie will be verrrrrry juicy and not in a good way.
My favorite tapioca thickener is tapioca flour, but admittedly, it's kinda hard to find. A good substitute for tapioca flour is instant tapioca which is much easier to find in small boxes in the baking aisle, probably near the cornstarch or possibly near the boxes of pudding mix.
Tapioca flour is, well, flour-y, and melts into the fruit juices, thickening the liquids. Instant tapioca is small rough pellets. While some bakers just throw the instant tapioca into the fruit, I've never had luck with that, the juices thicken a little but are marred by small bits of sturdy, white bits which are aesthetically unpleasing and really mar the pie's fruity texture.
What's a cook to do? Grab a mini food processor, that's what.
For a smoother texture with instant tapioca, first run the sugar and instant tapioca through the food processor together until fine and yes, floury.

FOR MORE INFO If you "skipped straight to the recipe," please scroll back to the top of this page for ingredient information, ingredient substitutions, tips and more. If you print this recipe, you'll want to check the recipe online for even more tips and extra information about ingredient substitutions, best results and more. See https://www.kitchenparade.com/2003/08/summer-berry-pie.php .

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Slice, assumes 10: 286 Calories; 13g Tot Fat; 6g Sat Fat; 11mg Cholesterol; 35mg Sodium; 41g Carb; 4g Fiber; 20g Sugar; 3g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 6 & PointsPlus 8 & SmartPoints 13 & future WW points

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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