Mile-High Strawberry Pie

Mile-High Strawberry Pie
Dorcas Annette Walker

This week I’m sharing a recipe that Granny gave me a several summers ago. Strawberries signal the beginning of summer days here in Tennessee and this is the best strawberry pie I have ever tasted bar none. Granny, Leda Roysden, was born up here in the mountains of Tennessee and is known as a good ole fashion Southern cook. She has always been like a second mother to me and now through my daughter, who married her grandson, she is definitely part of the family. Many a Sunday when our kids were small, Granny would call me up on Saturday and say, “Don’t worry about cooking for Sunday dinner tomorrow. You just plan on coming to my house for dinner.” We always knew we’d leave Granny’s house stuffed full of delicious food. She also enjoyed trying out new recipes and would pass them along to me. So enjoy this fresh strawberry pie from Granny’s kitchen using light corn syrup.

Corn syrup is made using cornstarch composed mainly of glucose. Two enzymatic reactions are used to convert the cornstarch to corn syrup. Corn syrup keeps food moist, helps to maintain freshness, soften texture, add volume, prohibit crystallization, and enhance flavor. High fructose corn syrup is a group of corn syrups in variant where other enzymes processes are used to convert and increase some of the glucose into fructose then mixed with pure corn syrup to reach the final form with the resulting syrup being sweeter. This process was first developed by Richard O. Marshall and Earl R. Kooi in 1957 and refined by Japanese researchers in the 1970’s. It was rapidly introduced in many processed foods and drinks in the US around 1975-1985. High fructose corn syrup’s sweetness is comparable to table sugar thus making it useful to manufactures as possible substitutes for sugar in soft drinks and other processed foods.

My Mile-High Strawberry Pie captures the wholesome fresh taste of summer with each bite and will disappear fast. This recipe makes one Mile-High Strawberry Pie, takes around thirty minutes to prepare, and serves eight.

Mile-High Strawberry Pie

1 baked pie shell

Bring to a boil stirring constantly:
1 c sugar
3 tb cornstarch
3 tb light corn syrup
1 c water
Cook for five minutes until thick and clear.

Add:
1 (3 oz) pkg strawberry jello
Stir until dissolved. Pour over:
1-1/2 quart of fresh strawberries that are hulled
Mix until strawberries are coated, pour into baked pie shell, and let cool. May garnish with cool whip to serve!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a freelance writer, author, columnist, and photographer from Jamestown, TN. If you have any cooking tips or favorite recipes you are welcome to contact me by mail at: Dorcas Walker, 929 Wildwood Lane, Jamestown, TN 38556 or email me at: dorcaswalker@yahoo.com. For more information about the Walker family and Dorcas’ books check out her website at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com or htpp://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com for other Creative Mountain Cookin recipes.