Berries From the Pick-Your-Own Field

About author / Pamela Chester

Mom of two; graduate French Culinary Institute; kids cooking program instructor; Master's degree in food studies. Creates kid friendly foods and loves her slow cooker.

I just returned from a marvelous day on the farm with my son. After a frustrating hour spent at the DMV trying to get a new driver’s license, we just happened to stumble upon an orchard that features pick your own fruit all season long. Since this place is really well known for their Halloween pumpkin patch and festivities, I wasn’t even aware that there was so much to do there in the non-fall harvest season. But when I saw the sign for fresh blueberries (my son’s absolute favorite fruit), I decided to pull in. We had such a great time that the earlier hassles of the DMV quickly became a distant memory.

We hopped on the hayride that was preparing to depart for the berry patch. The fruits that are in season to pick right now (in this part of the country) are blackberries and blueberries. Soon to follow will be delicious and juicy fresh peaches. One bouncy ride through the field later, and we were dropped off in the blueberry picking area. In front of us unfolded acres of blueberry bushes, with sun warmed berries, ripe for the picking.

I had ambitiously picked up two quart sized containers. Luckily my son was a quick study in the fine art of berry picking and we were able to fill one quart up completely to the top (With a couple of not yet ripe green berries thrown in, but who am I to quibble with an 18 month old over such matters when we were having so much fun). But as the sun grew warmer our picking rate slowed down and I noticed the little guy eating more berries than ended up going into the second container. Time to head back for lunch!

At checkout, I selected a few perfect looking peaches and we headed home to see what we could do with our proudly picked bounty. These fresh picked blueberries are considered cultivated (unlike the wild blueberries you may find growing along hiking trails in late summer in the Northeast) but were smaller and slightly less sweet than the standard ones you find in the grocery store. Great for snacking, pancakes, and muffins. Another one of my favorite things to do with fresh seasonal summer fruit is to make a cobbler (and the combination of blueberry and peach together is my all time favorite). Few desserts speak of the simplicity of summer more clearly than a juicy fruit cobbler.

And the easiest part of the recipe below is that you start and finish it in your slow cooker. The berries and peaches cook together first for a couple of hours. You then add a handmade biscuit-like dough to the top that will soak in some of the juices of the fruits. It may not be the prettiest cobbler you ever saw but it sure will be easy and tasty too!

This cobbler is best served still warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream. You can also use any other combination of seasonal fresh picked and slow cooked fruit in the recipe.

Serves/Makes: 6

• 4 cups peaches, peeled and sliced
• OR
• 2 bags (16 ounce size) frozen peaches, thawed
• 2 pints blueberries
• OR
• 2 bags (16 ounce size) frozen blueberries, thawed
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar, divided use
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 tablespoons butter, cut into 6 pieces
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest (colored portion of peel)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans, PLUS
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped pecans, divided