Pie in the sky dreams
By Staff
My mouth waters when I have memories of Mother's pies and cobblers cooking in the oven on a hot summer day.
Blackberry season was my favorite time of year.
Homemade blackberry jam and blackberry cobbler were a treat all their own.
Sometimes, we had vanilla ice cream scooped on top of that cobbler. The ice cream melted very slowly, ran down the sides of the cobbler and made a pool of blackberry juice and sweet melted ice cream.
There was some spoon slurping on that day.
Mother would do many good things with pears, but my all time favorite was a simple pear salad.
We usually had our big meal at lunch in the summer when we were out of school.
She would take a canned pear half, put a dab of her homemade mayonnaise on it, sprinkle it with cheddar cheese and add a cherry on top. This was laid on a bed of fresh lettuce. It was my favorite thing in the world.
Nothing tastes like strawberry cake with an added scoop of ice cream on the side or whipped cream on top.
Maybe add a few fresh strawberries for decoration. There is something light and cheerful about strawberries. It certainly brings back happy moments for me.
We lost our blueberry bushes. They were a gift from our son, Jim.
I didn't know you had to have a his and her bush to have blueberries but we planted them and I learned something.
For several seasons we had a few blueberries. There is a divine taste from blueberries that is not like any other berry when you pick them fresh and eat them.
We would love to replace our lost blueberry bushes with new ones. They have a hard time growing here but we are willing to try.
There are all kinds of treats you can make with blueberries – good ones too!
All in all, fruits and berries are so Southern. They are just part of our raising. Find some new ways to enjoy them this wonderful summer season and cherish every bite and every memory.
Suzanne Langcuster is a food writer for the Franklin County Times.
