Finding Our Blueberry Thrill

[bluesy music] - [Narrator] Coming up on "The Key Ingredient".

We have the "berry" best time on the road, and in the kitchen, cooking up blueberry heaven.

- [Sheri] So it's really full.

But they're gonna cook down, right?

- That's right.

- [Narrator] From pies to parfaits.

- As you just dollop that on top, it's that easy.

- [Narrator] And a trip to the mountains for a little blueberry picking and friendship.

- If you're a picky picker.

- [Sheri] Yeah.

- And just pick the right berries, it takes a while.

- [Narrator] That's next!

[upbeat cheerful music] - [Sheri] I'm Sheri Castle.

I write cookbooks.

I write for food magazines.

I cook, I teach, and I collect stories.

And my favorite stories are the ones behind our best loved home recipes.

Can you eat just rice like this?

- You can try it.

- All right, here we go.

Oh, that's awesome.

I will go out and explore from the ground up.

The best ingredients that go into some of our most beloved family recipes.

It's all about the food, the flavors, and finding the key ingredient.

[soulful music] - So welcome.

[Walter laughing] - Walter Clarke and Johnny Burleson are the current owners, or stewards, as they like to say, of Old Orchard Creek Farm.

Tucked back in the hills and hollers of Ash County, and the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina.

[roaster crowing] Their farm is one of the most popular, pick your own blueberry patches around.

Where families have come for generations to fill up on berries and enjoy the scenery.

During high season, the place buzzes with visitors.

And today that includes us.

There's a lot of blueberries and this is easy picking, but this is also a lot to fill up this bucket.

We're going to get a lesson in picking fresh blueberries and learn to make blueberry pie.

- Walter, is it you?

- Sheri?

It's really me.

Thanks for being here.

- Thank you my friend.

Hug my neck a little bit.

- Welcome to Old Orchard Creek.

- Mm, good to be here.

- Yeah.

- I believe this might be paradise.

How did you wind up here?

- We first found this place in 2001.

- [Sheri] No kidding.

- When Johnny and I came up here to pick blueberries.

- [Sheri] Yeah.

- [Walter] And of course it's beautiful.

And we stopped in front of the old white farmhouse out there, which was built in 1880.

But we just stood in front of the old house and looked around at this farm and thought this place is really special.

And then two years later we were back and we were in downtown West Jefferson, just driving around.

And in a realty office there was a sign that said, "Blueberry farm for sale".

And we thought, surely it's not the same place we drove out here and lo and behold, it was the same place.

Originally this farm was used as an apple farm.

- I noticed the trees, that makes sense.

- [Walter] Our main crop is blueberries and we operate as a, you-pick blueberry farm.

Usually blueberry season lasts about four weeks in the summer.

- Wow.

So it's in and out fast.

- It's in and out fast.

- Well, will you teach me how to pick blueberries?

- I'd love to teach you how to pick blueberries.

- [Sheri] All right, I know how to hold a bucket, beyond that, it's all up to you.

- Okay, we can do that.

- All right.

- Let's do it.

- All right.

So I didn't bring my own bucket.

I hope you've got one for me.

Alright, let's start here.

- Yeah.

- And then let's work our way over, based on absolute nothing but a hunch.

That's what I'm feeling.

- So see, there's lots of berries, right?

Berries right now.

- Do they just slip off that easy when they're ready to come off?

- They slip off.

They just almost fall in your bucket.

- But then you want to just only get the ones that are willing to come with me.

Right?

- [Walter] Right.

You want them to be solid blue.

So a lot of them will still have a little bit of pink or red like this one.

- [Sheri] Yeah.

- [Walter] But just the solid blue ones.

- [Sheri] There's a lot of blueberries and this is easy picking, but this is also a lot to fill up this bucket.

- Well it, you know, takes, it takes me an hour.

- [Sheri] So they all come into seasoning.

You just let your pickers come and just pick whatever row they want.

- Yeah, we do.

People harvest blueberries in different ways.

Some people will just open one row, and just let people pick that row clean.

We find it's, it's easier just to let people just pick.

- [Sheri] So Walter, I've got almost nearly a half a bucket.

What is the unit of measurement for a blueberry pie?

- Oh, Sheri, you'll have to ask the cook.

- Okay.

- My husband Johnny Burleson, who can tell you exactly.

- Mmhmm.

- You know, I pick the berries, he cooks the pie, and I wash the dishes.

What do you think of that arrangement?

- [Sheri] I think that that is a splendid arrangement.

[jazzy music] When Johnny wants to make a crowd pleasing dessert with freshly picked blueberries, he pulls out a pie recipe from Swansi Shepherd, a member of the family that first planted blueberries on the farm more than 50 years ago.

Today he's sharing that handwritten recipe with us.

We're making a sweet, juicy, old fashioned, double crust blueberry pie.

[drum fill] - [Johnny] Sheri welcome.

- [Sheri] Thank you.

- To my kitchen.

- Thank you.

- [Johnny] I am so excited you're here.

I'm probably more excited that I didn't have to pick all those blueberries.

- Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

Walter and I picked the berries and then he dropped me and the berries off at the porch, and now you're stuck with me.

- Here we go.

- [Sheri] What are we gonna make?

- Exactly.

We're gonna make a blueberry pie.

We're gonna start out with a bowl of sugar.

- [Sheri] Uh huh.

- [Walter] And we need to add flour to it.

- Just good ol' all-purpose flour?

- [Johnny] Yeah.

All purpose flour.

- All right.

Okay.

- Dump two teaspoons of cinnamon.

- Okay.

Isn't it amazing how cinnamon tends to go with all fruit pies.

- [Johnny] Right?

It's, it's really good.

- [Sheri] Okay.

Got a little bit of that.

- And then a dash of salt.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- Whatever you think.

- [Sheri] I think that's dash worthy, don't you?

- Absolutely.

And so we just sort of stir all this together, - [Sheri] Mmhmm.

- Get it mixed up.

What we wanna do is put two tablespoons of - Okay.

- [Johnny] This mixture in the bottom of the pie.

And we do that because it helps when the berries, you know, start cooking, it helps thicken that berry juice.

- [Sheri] It catches those juice.

- That's right.

- [Sheri] Does that look about right?

- [Johnny] Yep, that's about right.

And what we wanna do is, is just sort of get that sort of good, and, - [Sheri] Yeah, we're just leveling it off.

- [Johnny] Leveling it off.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- So now what we wanna do is, we want to take our berries.

- Yeah, which are here, and these just have been rinsed.

- Yep.

- So this is, okay.

And this looks to be maybe eight cups.

- [Johnny] About eight cups of berries, - Okay.

- [Johnny] So about four cups per pie.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- [Johnny] That's what you want to do.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- [Johnny] So then we're gonna add, give that to you.

If you'll just dump the rest of that, - Oh gosh, I can do that.

- [Johnny] In here.

- [Sheri] So you're just gonna stir that enough to just basically dust these berries in that flour and sugar mixture.

- [Johnny] That's right.

You just want to coat, coat this really, really well.

- [Sheri] And what amazes me is, I mean, these berries were still on the bush like an hour ago.

Look how quick this is and how immediate it is.

- Well, and that's the, the most brilliant thing.

And in this particular recipe, I said I adore it.

It's because it's so simple and it allows the berries really just to be what they want to be.

- [Sheri] Yeah.

- Which is this big burst of flavor.

So what we want to do, let me give that to you, split this between the two pies.

- [Sheri] So it's really full.

But they're gonna cook down, right?

- That's right.

They're gonna cook down.

Now we're gonna, we're gonna do, I guess it's about two teaspoons of the lemon juice sort of over the top of it.

I think lemon juice really makes the berries shine.

- [Sheri] I love your technique of squeezing the seeds through your fingers.

- [Johnny] Well you know, it's just not worth dirtying another dish.

- [Sheri] No it's not.

And if you lose a seed in there, we're never gonna find it.

- [Johnny] But this blue, this juice is just... - [Sheri] Oh that smells so good.

- [Johnny] Right?

So, at this point we want to take some dollops of butter.

- Mmhmm.

- [Johnny] And just because you know, everything's better with a little butter.

- Oh heck yeah.

Plus you do need a little bit of, you know, fat in this and it's gonna, I bet it's gonna make this gorgeous rich juices, isn't it?

- [Johnny] It is.

[happy synth music] So now we're gonna put a top pie crust on it.

It's in the fridge because we want to keep that pastry really cold.

Cold pastry equals flaky crust.

- [Sheri] Oh yeah.

Look how firm that is.

That's a great idea.

[paper rustling] Ta-dah.

- [Johnny] This is probably my favorite part.

- [Sheri] Do you have a technique or do you just say if it's crimped, it's crimped.

Or are you, gonna do like some sort of macrame things, gonna show me up here?

[laughing] - I'll tell you the reason this is the, I mean.

You know, I cook a lot, and in this kitchen I cook a lot.

And for a lot of people it's usually loud here on the farm.

- [Sheri] Yeah.

- [Johnny] So this is the time where I get to like, sort of do my meditation.

- Yeah.

- And so when I'm crimping this blueberry pie in the summertime, this is sort of what I call my summer meditation.

- I love this.

- Yeah, and is the time really that I get by myself and you know, in and on the farm 'cause we have so much going on with the berry season and all that, but.

- So we don't, we don't dock or anything, we're good?

- [Johnny] I do, I do cut a little, let's cut a little slit.

- All right.

- In the top here just, - [Sheri] For steam?

- [Johnny] A little bit of steam.

Because this will get really, really juicy, as you saw these berries are big.

- I love it.

- Yeah.

- And look at this.

Look how easy this so easy is.

- Yep.

- So then we just put them in the oven and about how long does it take to bake?

- So it takes about an hour.

- Ah, let put them in the oven.

And it's okay to do two?

They can just cook side by side.

- [Johnny] Absolutely, Yep.

- I love this.

[cheerful music] [timer buzzer] - [Johnny] I think they're ready.

- [Sheri] I heard the timer go off.

- [Johnny] All right.

- Oh my gosh, listen to that.

You can hear the bubbling.

- [Johnny] Yep.

Look at that.

[gasping] - Oh, look at this.

- See that?

- Yes.

You know that is how I learned about blueberry pie.

Did you learn that?

That if the juices were bubbling when they came out, that that was done?

- [Johnny] Yeah.

That's a pretty pie.

- [Sheri] Oh, that's a pretty pie.

Let's see if the other one looks- - Oh yeah, - Beautiful.

- Look at this, this one really- - Beautiful.

Now I'm thinking that this filling is probably the temperature of the surface of the sun.

- It's really hot.

So what you're gonna want to do is, we're gonna want to let these cool for at least an hour, if not longer.

I usually cool mine for a couple of hours.

- Until you really don't feel any heat at all.

- Feel no heat because as soon as it's cool, then you're able to really cut a beautiful piece of pie.

- Johnny, this is great.

I'm so excited, so excited.

- They're beautiful.

Well, thanks for- - What an easy, amazing pie.

- Super easy.

And this is probably the most fun I've ever had making a blueberry pie in this kitchen.

[giggles] - Let's do it again sometime.

All right?

- Let's do it.

- All right, thank you my friend.

- Absolutely.

Thank you.

[upbeat music] - [Sheri] You know, I brought these blueberries back from the farm yesterday and I cannot wait another minute to dig in.

Now we're not gonna count the ones I ate in the car and every time I've opened the fridge, you know now.

But let me tell you what we're gonna make with these.

An incredible fresh blueberry parfait.

[syncopated riffing] [calming music] Now step one, is to make the filling.

And all I've done is rinse these berries and blot them dry and I'm gonna put them in a bowl.

Now the next thing is one of my magic tricks.

This is a jar of blueberry jam, just good old fashioned blueberry jam.

And I'm going to add just enough of it to coat these berries.

And what we're doing is instantly making a fresh blueberry compote.

Now what this jam is doing is adding plenty of gloss, plenty of shine, and it's adding a little bit of sweetness without these turning sugary.

All we have to do is to put these in some little glass jars, or glasses, or bowls, or whatever you have.

I love the look of these straight sided highball glasses.

But really, you can use what you have, like little mason jars if you wanna take them to a picnic.

So all I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna take my shiny, glossy, sweet, beautiful berries and I'm gonna divide them among my serving pieces.

I have to tell you a little secret.

One time I actually made these parfaits [spoon clanging] in my car on the way from the blueberry farm.

They were party ready by the time I got there.

And that's one of the things that I love about this.

It can be a little formal, it can be a little casual.

And no matter how you serve them, they're always delicious.

Just two more spoons full.

And we are set.

That's it.

So all I have to do now is to pop these in the fridge, and let that jelly set back up.

And while they're chilling, I'm gonna start on the great cookie topping.

So let me tell you about this topping.

It is such a great unexpected combination of ingredients.

What I'm doing here is I am crumbling good, buttery, rich, not-too-sweet shortbread cookies into this bowl.

I love the effect of the shortbread cookies 'cause it reminds me of a well-made pie crust, but far, far easier.

You can break some into small crumbs, some into some larger crumbs.

Anything that'll give some good texture to the top of your parfait.

And then the next thing I'm going to add are pistachio nuts.

Now I love pistachios.

I love how they taste with blueberries.

But you know what I like the most?

I love how this green looks against those brilliant, beautiful, dark, blue blueberries.

Now for just a little bit of spice, I'm using cardamom.

Cardamom is one of my favorite spices in my spice drawer.

Especially for baking and desserts.

And sometimes people say, well when can I use cardamom?

Here's a great tip, if you're thinking about using cinnamon, but want something a little bit more interesting, try cardamom instead.

Now the last bit of this is a tiny drizzle of melted butter.

You don't wanna turn this greasy or overly buttery just enough that when you toss it together, you have a little bit of moisture to hold it together.

Now I am using salted pistachios here because I like that little bit of salt in with the sweet dessert.

But use whatever kind you like.

And believe it or not, that is our topping.

Now it's time to get our blueberry parfaits out of the refrigerator.

[fridge door closing] They've set up beautifully.

They're glossy, they're bright, they're chilled.

And this is our next step.

And then I'm gonna take my clean fingers, and I'm gonna just divide this among these jars.

That's how easy this is.

Now you can do the blueberries ahead.

You wanna do them at least 30 minutes ahead.

You can do this cookie crumble ahead.

But try not to assemble anything until it's shortly before it's time to serve them.

Because you want everything to retain its crunch and its color and its original flavor.

Now, the next part is my favorite part of this whole recipe.

It is this incredibly easy, amazingly delicious topping.

There are only two ingredients, the big reveal.

We have sour cream.

Sour cream is the way to go with this.

Not yogurt, not anything else.

Good old fashioned, full fat sour cream.

And we're gonna put it in the bowl.

And then I'm gonna add raw sugar.

It has lots of great crunch and texture, and that's what makes this sauce so special.

And I'm gonna stir it together.

Now it's important that you stir this together right before you top and serve these blueberries.

Because that contrast of that crunchy, delicious, golden rich sugar with that creamy, slightly tangy, sour cream is part of the magic of this.

But what's really magic about this is how it tastes.

Every time I serve this to my friends, they ask like, what is that topping?

Did you have to pull out a double boiler?

Is this Zabaione?

Do I have to buy this?

No.

All you have to do is stir two things together.

It is so good.

You're gonna love this.

And now these are ready to enjoy.

I cannot resist taking a bite.

There is so much going on here.

You've got the burst of the fresh berries, coated in a little bit of that sweet jam.

Then you get the crunch of the cookie, the saltiness of the pistachios, that little whiff of cardamom.

But I'm telling you, the star is this topping.

It's crunchy, it's cool, it's smooth, it's beautiful.

It'll be a conversation starter, except then when they start eating, they'll all be quiet cause they wanna focus.

It's delicious.

[jazzy music] You know blueberries, fresh blueberries are my favorite berry for in the morning.

You don't have to peel them, you don't have to seed them, you don't have to do anything other than tumble them into a delicious bowl of something like this great granola porridge we're gonna make today.

So let's get started.

So what I have in this sauce pan is some water and some milk that I'm bringing up to a low boil.

And now I'm gonna add a big pinch of salt and oatmeal.

[mellow music] Sometimes they're called pin oats or Irish oats and they're nubby and they have texture and they have character.

And already that alone is gonna make this oatmeal more interesting than a lot of the oatmeal perhaps you've tried in the past.

So now I'm gonna turn the heat down to medium low, maybe low.

You want this in a very gentle simmer, so that it won't boil over.

And these are gonna cook until they're thick and creamy.

Maybe about 20 minutes or so.

And in the meantime I'm gonna start on the finishing touch for this recipe, which is this delicious infused maple cream.

So I've got a little sauce pan here and I'm gonna put about a cup of heavy cream in there.

And I'm going to start with a vanilla bean.

I love what vanilla beans do in a recipe.

It gives a bold, fresh punch of vanilla that extract just can't deliver.

So when you use a vanilla bean, you wanna make sure that it is fresh enough that you can bend it.

If it snaps in two, it's probably a little bit past it's prime freshness.

And then take the tip of a knife, and just split this bean down the middle length wise.

Doesn't have to be exactly in the middle, but you wanna be able to pull it apart, and there are these delicious little seeds.

These little black bits are actually seeds and drop them down in the pot so they can start releasing their flavor.

And once you have most of them scraped out, make sure you drop the whole thing in there 'cause there is flavor in every little bit.

And I'm gonna turn this on low because as this cream warms up, all these flavors from these things start infusing.

That just means releasing into the cream so that every minute it spins on the heat, it is developing even more flavor and aroma and deliciousness.

I'm gonna put in a cinnamon stick, and then I'm gonna put in orange zest.

[relaxing music] And there is more flavor in that zest than there is in the juice.

Plus the zest means that the cream won't curdle, and just drop these little ribbons down in.

And that's it.

I'm gonna put this over low heat, and give this mixture maybe 10 or 15 minutes so that the cream can absorb these delicious flavors.

I'm also gonna keep an eye on my oatmeal.

You want it at a good active simmer, but not at a boil.

I'll just come by and give it a little stir from time to time.

That's all!

You know you can tell when this is ready because of the wonderful aromas in the air.

We get that little whiff of cinnamon.

We have this delicious orange scent in the air, and you can smell the vanilla.

We're gonna take them out before we add our last ingredient.

Now, our final ingredient is maple syrup.

And this is true, pure maple syrup, not just a pancake topping.

And I'm gonna put it in and then put this back on the heat, and that maple is going to join the party.

And then this cream is going to continue to reduce.

It will almost look like melted ice cream, and you can see those little vanilla bean specs.

This is delicious.

And your kitchen is gonna smell great.

So look what's happened here.

This little combination of cream and all those delicious things.

We practically have a sauce here, so I'm gonna take it off the heat and finish up the oatmeal.

Our oats are deliciously thick and creamy.

And I wanna show you something about oats.

If you're cooking the Irish oats or the pin oats, they get really thick as they cook.

And I want you to give them a little taste right before you take them off the heat to make sure they're creamy.

And if they need a little bit more cooking, you can always add a splash of water.

I got lucky and mine turned out just right on the first try.

I'm gonna put in a good pat of butter, and we're gonna stir it in until it begins to melt.

And then I'm going to add granola.

Sometimes I call this my granola porridge.

So that's probably a cup.

Put as much as you'd like.

And I'm gonna fold that in and look what's happening.

We're transforming an ordinary pot of oatmeal into something really special.

And then look, here's our star ingredient, those beautiful, delicious, fresh blueberries.

Now by putting them in at the very end, there's gonna be a little gentle warmth from that oatmeal that warms them up.

But we're not cooking the berries, 'cause we wanna keep them juicy and whole and delicious.

So here's all that's left to do.

Take a bowl, your big favorite bowl, and give yourself a delicious scoop.

And then last but not least, here comes our maple cream.

And we're gonna drizzle that over the top.

The aroma in this is unbelievable.

And you know I always finish with another little pinch of salt.

This is something my grandmother did.

She always put a tiny bit of salt on our oatmeal, and it just brings up all those other flavors.

And then we must have a bite.

[cheerful salsa music] That is so good.

You have, the oats, the great oats.

You have the crunch of the nuts, you have the nubbiness of that granola, you have the burst of the fresh blueberries with all their juicy goodness.

And then that cream, it's amazing what this cream does to this whole dish.

It adds sweetness, it adds flavor, it adds aroma.

This is the best bowl of oatmeal with blueberries you will ever have.

I just love it, and I think you're going to as well.

[Upbeat music] Blueberries freeze very well.

It captures their seasonal freshness so that we can enjoy that for months to come.

It's a quick and easy process.

And the berries taste great when thawed.

So here are a few tips on how to go about it.

Don't rinse the berries before freezing them.

That cloudy, waxy looking coating on fresh blueberries is called bloom, and it's nature's way of protecting the berries.

Spread them out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.

Or another shallow container that will fit in your freezer.

You can freeze a few berries or work in batches to freeze a good supply that will last up to six months.

After they're frozen solid, transfer the berries into small freezer bags that you can flatten and stack into your freezer to save precious space.

This also ensures that the berries won't clump into a big icy chunk that you have to pry apart.

Now you can open a bag and pour out only as many berries as you need at a time, without having to thaw them all.

To thaw them, pour the berries into a bowl, and cover with room temperature water.

Let them stand for about five minutes, or until they're no longer rock hard.

Once they thaw, you cannot refreeze them.

Once thawed, drain and dry the blueberries thoroughly.

Keep in mind however, that some recipes call for using frozen berries, which means all you have to do is pull out a bag from the freezer and you're good to go.

[pleasant guitar music] - [Johnny] Welcome everybody.

We're so happy you're here.

We've had a really exciting day.

I want to first start out by recognizing our guest who have been here.

- Since last night.

- Since last night.

So we're very excited about that.

Sheri Castle, has become a very dear friend over the course of the last couple of weeks.

I feel like we've known her forever.

- [Sheri] When it comes to celebrations with friends and family.

Nothing says love more than a pie.

- [Walter] We have these two words that we really love and it's called, chosen family.

And it's about the people in our lives that maybe aren't our biological family, but people that we really love and care for.

So a cheers to chosen family.

And to all of you who are here.

Thank you so much for being on our farm.

Cheers.

[glasses clanging] - [Everybody] Cheers!

- [Sheri] And when blueberry is the key ingredient, well that makes everything in life, especially a party, a little bit sweeter.

- We have pie.

- Pie!

It's pie friends.

Let me slide one in here.

[cheering] Johnny's recipe.

[upbeat music] ♪ - [Sheri] For all the recipes from the show, visit our website.

It's where you'll find the key ingredient for a perfect time in the kitchen.