Muscadine Pie

The term “pie” is used loosely because; this is more of a cobbler.  There is no recipe – this is how it was told to me by my great-grandmother at 98 years old.  She remembered as children picking muscadines and her mother making a pie which to them was a great treat.

 

Pick the ripe muscadines and wash them thoroughly.  Squeeze out the pulp and juice into a colander that has cheese cloth laid over it and a bowl underneath it.  Place the muscadine hulls into a pot.  Squeeze the pulps and get all the juice you can out of them, discard the pulp/seed mixture, and pour the juice into the pot with the hulls.  Add enough water to cover the hulls (this will be the broth for your cobbler, so add whatever you think will be enough to have ample juices in the dish – we like lots of juice and I sometimes call this a juice pie!) and cook until the hulls are tender.  Then add sugar to taste -- this will vary depending on the tartness of the berries.  The sugar is not  added until the hulls are cooked tender because my  great-grandmother said sugar tends to toughen the hulls if cooked with them.  I used about ½ cup because the berries were pretty tart, but don’t add too much because there is sugar in the cobbler bread mixture.  Once the hull/sugar mixture has simmered for a while, I allow it to completely cool.  Once cool, I pour it into a 9x13 corning ware dish and with a fork arrange the hulls so they are evenly distributed in the juice.  Dot the top of this with butter.  Then I mixed 1 cup of self-rising flour, 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of sugar in a glass measuring cup with a wire whisk.  Once mixed smooth, pour over the top of the juice/hull mixture allowing it to run everywhere. I did not need all the batter, so only use what you think will give you a good crust.  Don’t worry about looks – the juice will, in some places, cover the crust – but when it begins to cook and rise it will take care of itself.   Bake in a preheated oven at 400o F until done about 40 – 45 minutes.

Mary Henderson