Pie #11: Great Pie (Grape Pie)

I grew up in a town of roughly 4,000 people.  My family lived right in town - we were located near school, the park, a grocery store, and most everywhere else we wanted to go.  However, unlike most of the other houses in town, we had a huge garden and many fruit trees/bushes.  Summers meant harvesting the fruits and vegetables, snipping/shucking/preparing them, and then canning/freezing them.  While my siblings and I helped, there were many early and late hours Mom and Dad spent on this process which we did not see.

Growing up with an abundant garden taught us children many valuable lessons.  We learned that home-grown produce always tastes better than store-boughten produce.  We learned that sticking a kidney bean in your ear is a bad idea and is worrisome to Wanda (Mom).  We learned the value of a dollar, to make change, and how to manage profits when we sold the excess produce at a small stand in front of our house.  We learned to tend a garden: how to plant various vegetables, to differentiate between weeds and what we had planted, and not to plant 90 tomato plants in one season no matter how much canning you plan to do!  Most importantly we learned how good home-preserved veggies taste in the middle of winter.

One of my favorite mid-winter treats was popcorn and home-canned grape juice.  While visiting NW Ohio several months ago I found that same sweet taste in the pie that was waiting for our arrival on Kathy's table.  I was baffled.  I had heard of grape pie before, but had never tried it for fear of a terrible texture.  (I only ate it this time because I assumed it was a summer berry pie!)  Upon questioning, I found that this pie was made with a frozen bunch of last year's grapes!  Not only can I have homemade grape juice mid-winter...I can also have grape pie!

Now that Mom and Dad's grapes are beginning to ripen and they were gracious enough to share their crop, I decided to try my hand at making this pie.  A special thanks to Wanda for helping to slip grapes, rolling out the crust, and taking the pictures shown here!  The recipe below contains all the steps to make the pie.  However, if you'd like to preserve some grape pie mixture for winter, you can freeze the grapes after Step 1 below and then thaw the grapes and complete the remaining steps when you're ready to make the pie.

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Grape Pie
Sharon Sauder, West Clinton Mennonite Church Cookbook

Ingredients:
2 pie shells, unbaked

4 c. concord grapes (2 pounds)
1 c. sugar
pinch salt
1/4 c. flour
1 T. lemon juice
2 T. melted butter

Pie Algorithm:
1. Slip skins from grapes and reserve.  Put pulp in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Press the pulp through a sieve to remove seeds.

2. Mix pulp with sugar, skins, salt, flour, lemon juice, and butter.  Pour into pie crust and top with second crust.

3. Bake at 400F for 10 minutes and then 350F for 30 minutes more.

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This week's pie name is a tribute to Marvin (my maternal grandfather).  For years he has pretended to be hard of hearing, and changes the letters in words.  For instance, he addressed Perry as Barry for several years - not because he didn't know better...rather because he DID know better.  Another pair of words he likes to exchange is great and grape; when asked how he's doing he has been known to respond,  "Grape!"  Thus I thought the pie name would be fitting, and made sure to take a 'Great Pie' to Grandma and him.  An added bonus to delivering the pie was that I learned that my Great-Grandma Orpha often made grape pies.  I always knew her for her sugar cookies and ice cream treats...now I know a bit more!

While grape pie takes a little more time than some to make, it is a very tasty treat!  I love the flavor, and look forward to eating some as I watch snow fall outside my window this winter!