farmer's markets and fruit picking

Hot and humid Cincinnati weather equals some great summer fruits and vegetable showing up at farmer's markets around the city! The highlight for me is the strawberries; I get my hands on as many as possible while they're in season to make as many of my favorite pies as possible.


If you want to make an event of it, see this article from Cincinnati.com for a list of farms that offer pick-your-own strawberries - and lots of other produce. And of course there's always Findlay Market, Pipkin's Market, and lots of neighborhood farmer's markets (the Central Ohio River Valley Food Guide [pdf] has a list of them) for fresh local produce. Wherever you get your berries, definitely try this pie:

Ingredients
Pie crust
Approx. 1.5 quarts strawberries
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 cup water
salt
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons strawberry jello mix

Wash and hull the strawberries; prepare the pie crust from freezer section at the grocery store according to the package directions.

Put the sugar, corn syrup, water, salt, and corn starch in a sauce pan. Heat on medium/high, stirring constantly, until the consistency thickens and the mixture turns clear (you'll know when it happens; it's a pretty drastic change). Take off the heat and stir in the jello mix.

Arrange the berries in the pie crust and pour cooled mixture over top. Let it set up in the fridge for a while, and then you're ready to eat - once you've put a nice helping of whipped cream on top, of course.