She Can Bake An (Organic) Cherry Pie

Cherries are one of life's most precious ephemeral culinary joys. Sweet, tart, glossy, dripping from deep-green long-leaved trees perched on emerald hillsides under azure skies--nothing says summer like cherries. Except maybe a cherry pie.

The only conceivable way to improve on an honest-to-goodness fresh cherry pie is to make it from organic, or mostly organic, ingredients. Cherries are so rich in vitamins, anti-inflammatories and anti-oxidants, it seems a shame to mix them up with agricultural chemicals and food additives.

Cherries
 

The hardest part about baking an organic cherry pie is finding organic cherries. Check your local farmers market, and be sure to ask farmers about their growing methods--many small farmers and orchardists use organic or low-input sustainable farming methods, but don't go through the expense and difficulty of obtaining a USDA organic certification. Check your local natural foods market, and if you've won the lottery recently, you may also be able to mail-order organic cherries from places like The Fruit Company.  Or scout around and forage--many folks grow cherries as an ornamental tree and never harvest the fruit, but don't spray it with anything. Abandoned farmsteads may also have feral cherry trees still putting out glistening burgundy orbs for your eating pleasure. Use sour cherries if you can find them, as they make the most delicious pies.

Dry Goods
 
Organic, unbleached white flour is available in most natural foods markets--just smell it and make sure it doesn't smell like much of anything, which says it's still relatively fresh. If you can't find certified organic flour, unbleached flour like King Arthur All Purpose White Flour is a far sight better than the bleached kinds. Use a fine-grain sea salt with no additives for your baking salt. Organic, GMO-free cornstarch is available boxed from Rapunzel Organic, and in bulk at most natural food stores and co-ops. Rumford also puts out a GMO-free cornstarch although it's not USDA certified organic. American-grown, certified organic sugar is available from Florida Crystals. This is available packaged or in bulk at health food stores.

Other Ingredients
 
A good sour cherry pie should have a touch of lemon and lemon zest; shop for organic citrus at your local natural foods store. I like a shortening pie crust for cherry pie, as an oil crust gets hard to work with doing the lattice top, which can start to break apart.  I use Spectrum Natural's Vegetable Shortening which is certified organic palm oil shortening. I know that coconut and palm oils are saturated fats, but they are medium-chain fatty acids that work differently than lard does; long and short of it is they aren't really that bad for you.

Recipe

Unlike baking cakes with organic ingredients, baking an organic fruit pie does not call for any special techniques. I adapted this pie filling recipe from Ken Haedrich's classic book "Pie" and the pie crust from my falling-apart Betty Crocker Cookbook. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and pit 6 cups of cherries.

Crust: 

Mix 1 tsp. sea salt into 2 cups organic white flour with a fork in a medium bowl. Cut in 3/4 cup organic vegetable shortening. I like to work this in with my hands. Add 4 to 6 tablespoons very cold water one tablespoon at a time, tossing the flour mixture after each addition.

Roll out a large half of the dough into a circle and fit it to a deep 9 inch pie pan. Roll out the other half into a square  and cut it into 8 1-inch wide strips, using either a knife or a ruffle-edged pastry wheel.

Filling:

Place 6 cups of pitted organic cherries in a bowl. Mix with 1 and a 1/2 cups organic sugar  and 1/3 cup organic cornstarch.  Add 2 tsp. fresh squeezed organic lemon juice and the grated zest of 1 lemon.  Stir and pour into pie crust. Top with 2 tablespoons organic butter, cut into small pieces. 

Assemble the lattice strips in a woven pattern with 5 strips running in one direction and 3 in the other. Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with organic sugar. Bake at 400 for a half hour. Rotate the pie 180 degrees in the oven, drop the temperature to 375 degrees, and bake for another half hour or until golden brown on top and the filling bubbling over the edges. Cool for at least 2 hours to allow the juices to set. Serve with ice cream or fresh whipped cream with vanilla.