Bumbleberry Pie

Preheat oven to 350. Unroll pie crust, or place prepared crust in 9″ pie pan. Flute edges high on the pan. Prick crust all over, and bake for 10 minutes, or until light golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 1/2 hour.

Sort through berries, keeping only the best berries for the pie itself. Remove any stems. Put aside any soft or damaged berries into a small sauce pan.

You should have about 1/2 cup of berries in the pan. Rinse and drain remaining berries into a large bowl and set in the refrigerator to chill.

Rinse berries in the pan and drain. Return to the pan and add 1/2 C. sugar, and 1/4 C. water. Mash the berries with a fork or potato masher.

Bring to a simmer on the stove, and simmer, stirring and mashing frequently, for at least 15-20 minutes.

While the berries are simmering, place remaining 1/4 C. water in a 1 C. measuring cup. Sprinkle the envelope of plain unflavored gelatin over the water, and stir. Allow the gelatin to soften for 5-10 minutes.

When berries are done simmering, use a fine wire mesh strainer to strain the liquid into the measuring cup with the softened gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Pour the cooked fruit into the strainer and use a spoon to mash and stir the cooked fruit and force the pulp through into the same measuring cup. Discard the seeds and skins.

Or you could be lazy and make raspberry jello. Your choice.

You should have a full cup of the gelatin mixture at this point. Pour the gelatin mixture over the refrigerated berries, and stir to coat.

Place in the refrigerator, stirring every 10 minutes for the next half hour. The gelatin should start to thicken up at the end of this period.

Pour the fruit and gelatin mixture into the prepared pie crust, and gently smooth down the fruit without mashing it.

Cover the pie crust tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Serve with whipped cream.