I thought I already started this thread, but musta messed up posting
it. Oh well....

I've made two blu/blk-berry pies. The first was OK, but my all-butter
crust was tough. I let the crust sit in the fridge for 3 days. My
last effort was the same filling, but I added pickled ginger and
cardamom. I also added this to the dough:

http://www.spectrumorganics.com/spec...ic-shortening/

.....using about 60/40, butter/shortening. Bingo! Crust was very
tender and flakey. My best effort yet. One gotchya: one must work
quickly with crust to roll out and put in pan, as the palm oil
shortening definitely warms quicker than the butter once removed from
the fridge.

The filling was great, but not what I was shooting for. I used about
2 tblsps of pickled ginger, minced fine, and it was definitely gingery!
The cardamom was more of a thought than a flavor, the ginger
overwhelming it, entirely. Not a problem, as I love ginger, but next
time I'll try half the pickled ginger and I need to get some fresher
cardamom.

I see about 3-4 more blu/blk-berry pies in my future, as I have lotsa
berries. I also am happy with instant tapioca, now that I've
learned to let it soak into the berries for 15-30 mins before putting
filling in crust.

nb