America has so much for which to be thankful this Thanksgiving Day and so, in the spirit of change, we offer something different yet truly American and what better than the American wild berries? Everyone loved Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and most of us read Tom Sawyer incessantly until we could almost recite it. Huckleberries (Gaylussacia resinosa) are similar to blueberries in taste and maybe even appearance, but they do have a thicker blue-black skin and if you bite into them, there are tiny little seeds in the middle. Whilst the taste is similar it is much improved by an acidity not dissimilar to a young shiraz.

The small orange and reddish purple Chokeberries (prunus virginiana) belong to the plum family and are extremely hardy little berries that grow in absolutely any temperature. Sour as hell but a little sweeter when they’re completely ripe, they are better used for jellies, jams and even syrups. The Native Americans harvested the chokecherry towards the end of August and dried them for use throughout winter. Interestingly they were used in pemmican (an early American food consisting of the juice pounded with suet and then mixed with powdered bison jerky to be stored in a bison hide bag). Pemmican was a Native American foodstuff – one of the many that were introduced to the early pioneers.  Buffaloberry (Shepardia Canadensis) grows prolifically on the Rocky mountains. There are two varieties – the silver and the russet, the silver edible and the russet a tad bitter but interesting for use in jams and jellies – if picked after the frost when they are quite ripe, they are quite good in a pie.

Today, however, our Thanksgiving recipe is for the Huckleberry and here’s our take on a pie for today.

HUCKLEBERRY PIE

Ingredients

• Pastry for a two-crust pie
• 1,3 kgs fresh huckleberries, cleaned and prepared for cooking
• 225 g sugar
• 125 g light brown sugar
• 65 g quick cooking tapioca (optional)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 3 tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes

Method

Pre-heat oven to 220 C

• Roll out half the dough and fit the bottom half of the pie dish generously and refrigerate both the dish and the other portion of dough.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, tapioca and cinnamon well.
• Fold in the huckleberries and the lemon juice and allow the mixture to stand for 15 minutes, mix well again and pour into the cooled pie crust, making sure that it forms a mound in the middle.
• Dot with  butter.
• Roll out the rest of the dough and put over the berries and crimp the crust to seal it well.
• Brush the top of the crust with water, sprinkle with sugar and put in the in the centre of the oven – with a baking tray below it on the bottom rack to catch any dripping huckleberry syrup.
• Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce heat to 180 C and bake for another 40 – 50 minutes until the juices are thick and bubbly and the crust crisp and dark golden in colour.
• Cool before serving.