Olallieberry season is coming!
Are your canning jars and pie tins ready? The drought years meant piddly berry production. But surely, we can expect bumper crops this year. I can’t wait to see what the winter and spring deluges have meant for our own West Coast olallieberry.
Marilyn Francesco will be ready with a recipe similar to her friend’s version enjoyed so long ago. That olallieberry pie included Jell-O. Donna Thiemann thinks the pie was a riff on a Kraft refrigerator pie recipe that uses blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. The easy recipe will be a refreshing treat as our days heat up.
I love the flexibility offered by fruit pies, crisps and similar desserts. If you don’t have quite enough of one berry or fruit, you can just add a complementary fruit. Marilyn Jolliff of Sunnyvale grows olalieberries and makes a crisp recipe she created by tinkering with her apple crisp and blueberry cobbler recipes.
“You can buy or pick your own olallieberries at Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville. They also sell slices and whole pies there, as well as other goodies made with olallieberries,” Jolliff says. “The crisp can be made with three cups of berries and one cup of chopped apples, any kind. Gizdich Ranch makes a pie with berries and apples also. It is a way to stretch the berries that I have. The apples absorb the berry flavor.”
If you’re traveling through Cambria, check out Linn’s Restaurant or Linn’s Gourmet Goods for lots of olallieberry goodies. “This morning, I tried the olallieberry tea I purchased in their store,” Jolliff says. “I also came home with several jars of preserves.”
Gem hunt
Katy Grischy has a tip about Little Gems lettuce for Pat Janes. “I can almost always find Little Gems at Lunardi’s on Union Avenue in San Jose,” she says. “Safeway on Hamilton sometimes carries them. They are wonderful
mixed with romaine hearts for a Caesar salad. I grow them in my garden in the spring!”
Request line
Claire Jinks hopes n readers can help her create a curried carrot soup to rival the “sensational” version she enjoys at the Viva restaurant in Los Gatos.
A recent lemon pudding n cake recipe reminded Lois Hoctor of Morgan Hill of her mom’s version. “We gobbled it up and delighted in each mouthful,” Hoctor says. But her mom also made a chocolate version. “I just recall we kids would declare it our favorite dessert, depending on whether she served the lemon or chocolate version.” If you have the recipe for the chocolate cake, please share.
Family dinners at n DiCicco’s, which once had locations in Santa Clara and Campbell, made for treasured memories, says Astrid Giblin of Morgan Hill. “My absolute favorite dish was their rich and decadent crab cannelloni.” If you have a crab cannelloni recipe or happen to have the DiCicco recipe, Giblin would love to recreate those memories.