Carla Hall’s Blackberry Peach Crumble Pie

Peach pie is one of my favorite summer pies. And this Peach Blackberry Crumb Pie should be at the center of your Juneteenth table this year.

What is Juneteenth?

Juneteenth is a very important day in African American history. Juneteenth, or “Freedom Day” is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

On June 19, 1865 Union soldiers went to Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that all slaves were free. Unfortunately, 3 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. That was definitely a cause for celebration!

Juneteenth Cookout Celebration

And I’m so happy to be apart of the Juneteenth Cookout again this year sponsored by Eat the Culture. Join me in celebrating Juneteenth with 18 other Black culinary creators. This year, we are honoring 19 Black American cookbook authors by recreating their recipes, amplifying their work, and sharing our connections to Freedom Day. Share these recipes with your family and help us continue the legacy of celebrating progress. Additionally, you can easily follow each participant by using the hashtag #JuneteenthCookout2022 on Instagram.

For this year’s celebration, I made Carla Hall’s Blackberry Peach Crumble Pie from her book, Carla Hall’s Soul Food.

It has a buttery crust with sweetened fresh peaches and blackberries with a crumb topping. The cooked blackberries give the peach pie a red tint, which is the perfect color for Juneteenth.

Why Red food and drinks for Juneteenth?

An essential part of the Juneteenth culinary tradition is to make red food and drinks. “Red is a color that evokes cultural memory of the bloodshed by our enslaved ancestors through the transatlantic slave trade.”

How is the Blackberry Peach Crumb Pie made?

Start with making Carla’s all butter pie crust. Cut the ice cold butter into flour and add a bit of chilled ice water to bring it all together. Save a piece of the dough for the topping and roll out the remaining dough. Place it into a pie plate and refrigerate until ready to use.

Add sliced peaches and blackberries to a mixing bowl and lightly toss with sugar, lemon juice, ginger and cinnamon. Pour the filling into the crust and crumble to extra dough on top of the pie.

Do not slice your pie as soon as it comes out of the oven. If you slice the pie right way, the filling will flood everywhere, and you will be left with a runny filling. Resting gives the starches in the filling a chance to set which makes for a clean slice of pie.

Blanche the peaches for a few seconds in a pot of boiling water to remove the skin easier.

Cold dough equals flaky crust. The cold water helps to keep the fat cold so it does not melt. If the fat ends up melting before going to the oven, it’s absorbed into the flour and the pie will not have a flaky pie crust is lost. Cold dough slows down the fat melting process, creating rich flaky crust layers.

Commonly Asked Questions:

Yes, it’s best to peel and slice the peaches before adding them to the pie dough. Though, this is not a necessity.

You can use either frozen or canned peaches in place of the fresh peaches in this pie. Frozen peaches are the best substitution because they are essentially fresh peaches, which are frozen, so when baked, they will have the same result, with the exception of slightly more peach juice.

Canned peaches are not my favorite option because they have a different texture and slightly different taste than fresh peaches. But many people do use them.

Freshly baked peach pie will keep well covered loosely with foil or plastic wrap for about 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator. And to freeze the pie, wrap the pie tightly with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap, or place in heavy-duty freezer bag.

You will need some type of thickening agent in the pie. If you don’t use cornstarch, you can use flour or even tapioca. Without a thickening agent, the pie filling will be extremely thin and watery.

Here are other great “red” recipes perfect for a Juneteenth celebration:

Purple and White Potato Salad prepared by Big Delicious Life from the book Sweet Potato Soul

Jam Cake prepared by Britney Breaks Bread from the book Jubilee 

Mini Red Velvet Cake by Chenée Today from the book Life Is What You Bake It

Soy Lime Beef Stir Fry by Coined Cuisine from the book Cooking Solo

Pinto Beans with Smoked Neck Bones by Cooks with Soul from the book Bludso’s Bbq Cookbook

Black Pepper Strawberry Slab Pie by Dash of Jazz from the book Watermelon and Red Birds

Buffalo Cheezy Sweet Potato Fries by Flights and Foods from the book Unbelievably Vegan 

Grilled Pork Porterhouse Steaks  by Food Fidelity from the book Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ: Every Day Is a Good Day

Barbecue Baked Beans with Red Spice by Geo’s Table from the book Son of a Southern Chef

Jamaican Beef Patty by Her Mise En Place from the book My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef

Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Spicy Vegetable Relish by Kenneth Temple from the book In Bibi’s Kitchen

Red Velvet Cake with Blackberry Frosting by Lenox Bakery  from the book Grandbaby Cakes

Very Strawberry Shortcake by Meiko And The Dish from the book The New Orleans Cook Book

Pig-Pickin’ Cake by My Sweet Precision from the book Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking 

Blackberry Peach Crumble Pie by Peaches2Peaches from the book Carla Hall’s Soul Food

African Soul Rice Salad with Crispy Collards by Savor & Sage from the book The Cooking Gene

Grape-Tarragon Spritzer by Sense and Edibility from the book Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora

All-Green Everything Salad w/ Creamy Sage Dressing by That Green Lyfe from the book Vegetable Kingdom

Rum Rum Punch by This Worthey Life from the book The Red Rooster Cookbook