Few things bring joy like a berry pie.
Strawberry, raspberry and blackberry, for sure. This year, we had a pie with a filling of blueberries suspended in a stand-up lemon custard.
All in that flakey Betty Crocker crust that my bride makes at least as well as my prolific pie-baking grandmother.
Divine.
But this time of year — right now — is my favorite season for two pies that were my grandma’s specialties: ground cherry pie and grape pie.
Most people have never heard of either. Too bad.
Ground cherries are the size of cherries but aren’t cherries. They look like shrunken tomatillos and taste a little sweeter.
This year’s grape pie will be made this week, if I’m lucky. I just picked the concord grapes from the century-old vine on our family farm — the same vine from which Grandma picked fruit for her pies.
As wonderful as they taste, the memories they bring are even more beautiful.
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