Welcome to Oregon Author!
Join me as we travel to fascinating places in this beautiful state, enjoy Pacific Northwest foods and share recipes, visit Oregon sports teams, admire local flora and fauna, attend events, and talk about all things Oregon.
Marionberries
Hello, Word Lovers!
As I think about all things Oregon, my mouth begins to water and I feel a little sad. That’s because I’ve been enjoying marionberries for weeks and the season is coming to an end. I’ll wander over to the Sunday market and look for more tomorrow, but I probably won’t find any. Sigh.
The good news is that anyone who lives in Oregon can find marionberries in all sorts of ways when the berries themselves are gone. Jams, spreads, candies, ice cream, yogurt, beverages hard and soft, syrups, dried and frozen – the berry used to create Oregon’s state pie is still everywhere for us to enjoy all year.
But what, you ask, is a marionberry?
If you’re not from Oregon, I don’t blame you for asking. I’d never heard of marionberries until I moved here, either. My husband Terry and I stopped at a country restaurant at an inn off Highway 26 in the small town of Jewel, not far from Seaside. Ironically, it wasn’t called the Marionberry Inn but the Elderberry Inn. (We had a fine lunch and highly recommend the restaurant.) While there, we tried their special marionberry cobbler. We were hooked!
Marionberries
What is a Marionberry?
Marionberries (Rubus ‘Marion’) are a truly Oregon phenomenon. They’re a cultivar of the blackberry, a cross between the Chehalem and Olallie varieties. Oregon State University, working with the USDA Agricultural Research Service breeding program, first bred the marionberry in 1956. It was named after Marion County, where the berries were grown and tested. Bred for flavor more than durability, fresh berries don’t always travel well and aren’t grown much outside the Pacific Northwest, the only area in the world that specializes in harvesting and processing them.
Marionberries vs Blackberries
How do you tell the difference between a marionberry and its blackberry parent? Marionberries are dark but have more red in them than blackberries. They’re a little longer and less wide. And they’re often a bit smaller than blackberries, although I’ve gotten hold of some large ones at our local farmers market.
They’re both tart and sweet. They have a delightful earthy flavor and medium texture – not too firm and not too squishy — with seeds not big enough to get in the way of enjoying them. It’s hard to describe what makes them so unique.
So my homework assignment is: try them!
If you can’t get to the Willamette Valley or anywhere else here in Oregon, you can order marionberries in fruit spreads, jams and jellies. Anywhere you can buy Rising Sun Farms makes a superb Marionberry Cheese Torta with dried cranberries and hazelnuts. My favorite product name is “Made Marion” hard cider.
But the most popular way to eat marionberries (besides fresh off the vine) is marionberry pie, the state pie of Oregon. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream, it’s heaven on a fork. Safeway sells frozen marionberries, and they work just fine. If you’re lucky enough to get fresh ones, they hold up better than raspberries, but it’s best to eat or use them as quickly as you can.
And just because I’m the Oregon Author and I love sharing my state with my readers, I’m going to give you my recipe for marionberry pie! It uses a pastry I’ve developed over the years that works well with juicy fillings and a nice filling that lets the flavor of the berries shine. If you absolutely can’t get marionberries, it works well with regular blackberries, too.
Lynne’s Oregon Marionberry Pie
Pastry
- 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cornstarch
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- ¼ cup butter-flavored shortening, such as Crisco
- 8 tbsp ice water
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract (optional, for sweet pies)
- Mix together flour, salt, cornstarch and sugar.
- With a pastry cutter, fork or your fingers, work in the butter and shortening until it looks like coarse meal. Add ice water and stir into flour mixture just until you can gather it into two balls, one slightly larger than the other. Do not overmix. Add another tbsp of water if needed to hold the balls together, but do not add too much water or the pastry will become heavy and chewy.
- Flatten each ball into a disc and place them into a plastic bag. Zip or close the bag and store the bag in the refrigerator for at least two hours. I like to store it overnight.
- An hour or so before rolling out the pastry, remove it from the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature.
- On a floured surface, roll out the larger disc of the pastry to about a 12” circle and line a 9” pie pan.
- Roll the other disc into a 13” circle.
Filling
- 4-5 cups fresh or defrosted frozen marionberries
- 2/3 to 1 cup sugar, depending on sweetness of berries
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- ¼ cup cold water or fruit juice
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1-2 tbsp butter
- Pick over and rinse the berries. Drain them and place them in a large bowl.
- Dissolve the cornstarch in the water or juice.
- Combine the sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and cinnamon and sprinkle them over the berries. Stir gently until we blended. Let stand for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Turn the berries into the pastry-lined pie pan.
- Dot berries with pieces of butter.
- Cover the pie with the top curst. Prick the top crust with a fork several times.
- Bake the pie for 10 minutes at 450 degrees.
- Lower the temperature to 350 and bake 35-40 minutes until crust is golden brown.
Cool to room temperature. If desired, serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this excursion into the world of marionberries as much as you’ll enjoy eating them when you can find them.
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May the Words be With You.
