This was my great-aunt Jean’s recipe. She died before I was born and I don’t know much about her beyond a few recipe index cards my mom had, so my attempt at making this pie is another foray into culinary experimental archaeology.

As with many experiments, sometimes you get something award-winning, and sometimes you get soup. This didn’t set properly, so it’s more like a soup or a runny cobbler, albeit a tasty one. A friend of mine told me she had a similar issue when she tried to make a strawberry pie, so maybe this is a type of recipe that takes a little more finesse to get it right. I haven’t given up, so I’ve added some notes below to help with the next attempt.

1 quart strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
4 teaspoons corn starch
dash of salt
1 cup cold water
pre-baked pie crust (I used this No-Roll recipe)

Crush 6 or 8 (strawberries; I had some extra-large berries so I only crushed four and chopped the rest).

Add the rest of the ingredients to a saucepan. Cook until clear. Pour over berries. (I did this in a bowl and stirred before transferring to the pie crust. It’s possible that my mix wasn’t clear enough before I took it off the heat; I don’t know how much it should have boiled down, or why I needed to start with cold water if it was just going to boil anyway.)

Fill crust, then chill. Serve with whip cream or ice cream.