Wild blueberries, known as bilberries or whortleberries, abound in pine forests and heathland in the North East; you just have to know where to look, and they are surprisingly common. They usually fruit in late July, depending on the weather, though they were a week early last year. They are traditionally used in a pie, which has the affectionate name in the North East of funeral pie due to its striking purple colour – the Victorian colour of mourning. You can, of course, use cultivated American blueberries, but it’s fun to forage for them. When cooking they exude a lot of juice, so a little apple and sprinkle of cornflour helps to make a slightly more solid pie. However, this is not a pie you can cut neat slices of. Delicious warm from the oven or at room temperature with cold cream. Happy hunting!
- butter, for greasing
- 500g wild bilberries - fresh, frozen or from a jar (drained)
- 100g caster sugar
- 50g cornflour
- 100g cooking apple, peeled and chopped
- 500g shortcrust pastry
- 1 egg, beaten
- Preheat oven to 190C/Gas 5 and grease an oven proof pie plate with a little butter.
- Combine bilberries with caster sugar, cornflour and apple, keeping a little sugar back to dust over the finished pie, and allow to macerate for 10-15 mins while you make the pastry.
- Make the shortcrust pastry according to your recipe, or use ready-made (ensure it has a good proportion of butter rather than oil in it).
- When you’re ready to assemble the pie, cut the pastry in half and roll one half out to fit the bottom of the plate.
- Trim any overhanging pastry.
- Spoon the bilberry and sugar mixture into the pie case and top with the remaining half of the pastry.
- Seal and crimp the edges of the pie together, make a slit in the middle to allow the steam to escape and bake for 45-50 mins until crisp and golden.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle with caster sugar.
- Allow to cool slightly before serving.
