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In Season Right Now! Serviceberries In Brooklyn Bridge Park

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Photo AllRecipes.com

Only occasionally do artisanally-minded urban dwellers get to forage for our meals—which is why, upon hearing about the limited-edition serviceberries cropping up in Brooklyn Bridge Park, we rushed over to pluck some ourselves.

The fruit, which tastes like something of a cross between blueberries and raspberries, is just barely sweet, with a pleasant, almost almond-y seed. Park Horticulturalist Rebecca McMackin said they'll only be around for another two weeks, so pick now, locavores! The trees were originally planted to feed local birds, but they seem to be leaving plenty of bounty for non-winged creatures. Our neighbors to the north call them "saskatoon berries" (how very Canadian) and put them in all sorts of pastries and pies, like this one:

4 cups fresh serviceberries
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 prepackaged pie crusts
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In a large saucepan, simmer berries in 1/4 cup water for 10 minutes. Stir in lemon juice with berries. Combine sugar and flour together in a medium bowl, then stir into berry mixture.

Pour mixture into a pastry lined 9 inch pie pan. Dot with butter. Place second crust on top of pie; seal and flute edges.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 35 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

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Comments [rss]

  • PhotoR

    From this headline, I assumed there'd be a photo of some worker's nuts hanging out of his pants while he was working at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

  • It's also mulberry season, and those are all over!

  • Dikaiosune

    Just make your own damn pie crust.  Pre-packaged pie crusts are bad for you and taste terrible.

  • O2C

    FYI, if done in a city park, this may be illegal under NYC Parks Rules and Regulations §1-04b.  It may also be against the BBPC rules which state, "it is illegal for any Person to deface, write upon, sever, mutilate, prune, kill or remove from the ground any trees, plants, flowers, shrubs or other vegetation in the Park or under the jurisdiction of BBPC without documented permission of BBPC. "If you were in a NYC park, that'd also be the most expensive rule you could violate. "Any violation of Rule 1-04(b)(1)(i) shall constitute a misdemeanor triable by the Criminal Court of the City of New York and punishable by not more than one year imprisonment or by a fine of not more than $15,000, or both."

  • Trustafarian

    great - i'm sure they'll be serving these things for the next three months at roberta's

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