Strawberry season has finally arrived in West Michigan. Here is a post on Facebook from a local farm: “Our fields are loaded with strawberries. We hope to see you out here.” Now that is good news. Now, if only our local strawberry season wasn’t so short.
However, we are fortunate that strawberries are available year round here in the USA, thanks to California. And for the last few years, we have been getting strawberries from Florida in January. But still, it is a special time when local berries are available.
Not only is it strawberry season but earlier in the month there was the Strawberry Moon. I was fortunate to get a picture of the moon a couple of days before it was at its fullest.
If you like the fresh strawberry pie from Shoney’s or Big Boy restuarants, you will like this recipe. It is especially good made with local strawberries. Yes, this recipe includes Jell-O which I’m not too fond of cooking with either. But, Kraft has recently come out with a new brand of Simply Good Jell-O Gelatin and Pudding Mixes that are all natural with no artificial flavors, dyes and contain real fruit juice.
I have found this gelatin mix at one of my local grocery stores and Walmart has it also. If you can find this new line, I can recommend it for this pie.
We have an area known as the Ridge which is only a few miles north of downtown Grand Rapids. This is an area that has many farms and orchards thanks to the fertile soil. It is beautiful there with its gently rolling slopes. One of my favorite farms to visit is https://www.dunnebackgirls.com. They grow many fruits and vegetables and offer U-Pick. I bought four quarts of strawberries from them. This was toward the end of the growing season but they were still beautiful. Every time I have been to the farm, there has been a vintage pink Chevrolet truck parked out front.
Fresh Strawberry Pie
1 frozen deep dish pie crust
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
1 cup water
3 tablespoons Jell-O Strawberry Gelatin Dessert Mix
1 quart of fresh strawberries, gently washed, hulled and dried (see Note 1)
Whipped Cream
Prepare the pie crust as directed on package for one-crust baked shell. Set aside until completely cooled.
Combine sugar, corn starch, and water in a medium sized saucepan. Cook and stir until thickened and clear. Remove from heat. Add Jell-O Gelatin and stir until it is dissolved. Cool to room temperature.
Slice the strawberries in half and arrange them on the cooled pie crust. Pour the cooled strawberry gelatin mixture over the strawberries. You may not need all of the glaze mixture. Save it and serve with the pie if desired. Chill the pie in the refrigerator for several hours or until set. Serve with whipped cream. The pie is best eaten the day it is made.
Beautiful strawberries before the glaze:
And after, with the glaze:
Notes:
1. The strawberries I bought were in a quart sized container. I weighed them in the container and there was about a pound of berries. This amount when sliced fit perfectly in the deep dish pie crust. Michigan strawberries are typically smaller than California strawberries.
2. The Jell-O Strawberry Gelatin Dessert Mix has almost 6 tablespoons in the package. So plan another use for the leftover mix.
3. Adapted from Kraft recipes.
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