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Fresh Strawberry Pie Recipe

We know countless ways to enjoy strawberries: covering them with chocolate, adding them to a garden salad, and of course, all by themselves! One thing is for sure: a homemade dessert with just-picked strawberries makes any day a memorable occasion for the whole family.

While Mother Nature has the final say, strawberry picking usually begins in late April and continues through the middle of June. Visit Chiles Peach Orchard to pick the orchard-fresh berries you need to bake this Fresh Strawberry Pie at home!

Ingredients

For the crust

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2/3 cup shortening
  • 5 tbsp milk
  • 2 tbsp vodka

For the filling

  • 6 cups Chiles Peach Orchard strawberries
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 cup water
Strawberry garden party for Fresh Strawberry Pie Recipe
Did somebody say garden party? The Carter Mountain “Sunset” Sparkling Rosé is the perfect match for this fresh strawberry pie recipe!

Instructions

1. Make the pie crust mixture.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Gather your pie crust ingredients and a large mixing bowl. Add dry ingredients (flour, sugar, and salt). Cut in cold shortening with a fork and knife until crumbly. Add wet ingredients (vodka and milk). Mix.  

2. Prepare and chill the pie crust.

Roll up your sleeves and get your hands a little messy.

Spill your pie crust mixture onto a lightly floured surface and form into a disk. Cover with plastic wrap or reusable Z wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

3. Form, chill, and bake the pie crust.

Get ready to start forming that beautiful pie crust.

Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface until it is 1/8 in. thick. Grab your favorite Farm Market & Bakery pie plate and trim the dough to fit; we recommend cutting it to ½ in. beyond the edge of the plate.

Place the crust into the pie plate and flute the edges. Poke the base with a fork seven or eight times before refrigerating for 30 minutes. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the crust is gold and flaky.

4. Make the strawberry mixture.

We know it’s tempting to munch on all those sweet strawberries while cooking. Try not to eat them all during the next two steps!

Mix cornstarch and water for later.

Remove the stems from one cup of your Chiles Peach Orchard strawberries and place in a small saucepan. Crush the berries, add one cup of water, and boil for three minutes. Add sugar, stir, and boil for three more minutes. Add cornstarch mixture, stir, and boil for three more minutes. Set aside to cool.

P.S. Make sure you pulled the pie crust out of the oven!

5. Add more fresh-picked strawberries.

We hope you picked enough strawberries because now is their time to shine!

Remove the stems from your remaining strawberries and place in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the cooled strawberry mixture until all the berries are covered in a glossy coating. Pour that all into your baked pie crust and, voila, you have a pie!

Want to add some pizzazz to your fresh strawberry pie? Dress it up with some fresh mint or a dollop of whipped cream.

6. Enjoy!

Now, all there’s left to do is enjoy this delightful dish with family and friends! Tag us on Instagram at @chilespeachorchard and tell us what you think.

Orchard Outlook: Strawberries

Strawberry picking season is here!

We’re so excited to see the bold red berries brightening up our fields. Rediscover the taste of fresh strawberries by picking your own at the orchard!

Limited quantities are available at the start of the season, so visit our PYO page for daily updates.

Pick your own Strawberries in Crozet
Use these tips and tricks to pick and store the best strawberries!

Berry Delicious Recipes

Our favorite thing about strawberries? We can enjoy them in so many different delicious ways! Try out one of these recipes with your fresh-picked strawberries, or enjoy the berries with a dollop of whipped cream.

Southern Living has a tasty Strawberry-Lemonade Jam recipe to take us straight from spring to summer! Enjoy this sweet and tart jam on your favorite breakfast pastry to start the day.

Looking for a twist on a classic recipe? Edible Blue Ridge’s recipe for Gingery Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp with Brown Sugar Pecan Topping will do the trick!

Don’t have a sweet tooth? Have no fear, Savor Virginia’s Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad lets strawberries shine without the need for dessert. Try it for dinner with grilled shrimp or chicken for some added protein.

Last Season’s Favorites

It was great seeing so many smiling faces—even when covered in masks—last year. We can’t wait to welcome you to the orchard for more sweet memories this year!

Chiles Peach Orchard Open Every Day

We’ve kicked off the 2021 season here in Crozet! Chiles Peach Orchard is now open daily.

Mondays–Saturdays: 9 AM–6 PM
Sundays: 10 AM–6 PM


Icicles on peach trees in Crozet

Warmer Weather Ahead

We loved seeing those pink peach blossoms in full bloom! They even looked beautiful covered in icicles when temperatures dropped down to the 20s. All is well in the orchard, though! We ran under-tree irrigation and operated wind machines during the worst of the nor-easter weather.


blooming strawberries

Berry Delicious

Strawberry season is so close we can taste it! We anticipate that strawberries will be juicy, ripe, and ready to pick in early May. Hopefully, some good weather might just ripen them sooner!

For more updates on our upcoming strawberry season, visit our Facebook page.


fresh vegetables at Chiles farm market

April’s Asparagus

Our asparagus is starting to come up, and limited quantities will be available starting in mid-April. Asparagus is one of our favorite veggies: try it shaved in a salad or roasted with bacon!


Carter Mountain wine being bottled

Get Ready to Raise a Glass

We can’t wait to release the brand new Carter Mountain wine label in the Wine Shop later this year!

A Carter Mountain Rosé, Chardonnay, and Petit Manseng are just a few of the locally-crafted vintages that you can look forward to.


Ally Chiles, Chiles Peach Orchard store manager

Meet Ally Chiles

We are excited to announce our new store manager, Ally Chiles! A fifth-generation Chiles family member, Ally is excited to step into a more active role with the family orchards. Welcome to the management team, Ally!


Fresh apple cider donuts at Chiles Peach Orchard

Spring Goodies

As always, we’re excited to share our sweet treats with you! Visit our Farm Market & Bakery for mouthwatering ice cream, apple cider donuts, and frozen cider slushies.

They sell amazing apple cider donuts – literally melt in your mouth!

Michelle F. (Yelp)


Orchard Outlook: Strawberries

4/30/19 Update: Strawberries are now in season!

Here’s a peek at the orchard goings-on to prepare for strawberry picking season.

Protecting the Strawberries from the Cold

When temperatures drop in the winter, strawberries bundle up. The plants stay under covers for a good part of the winter to help protect them from the cold weather.

Even with these precautions, some plants do get eaten by the frost. To tell which plants suffered from frost damage, look for a black center in the strawberry. The blooms are still pretty but, unfortunately, they will not become strawberries.

Strawberry plant damaged by frost

The black center indicates frost damage; this bloom won’t become a strawberry.

From Blooms to Berries: The Strawberry’s Life Cycle

Take a walk in the strawberry patch in April and you’ll see berries at the beginning stages of the growing cycle: just starting to bloom out, in full bloom, and some plants where the petals are dropping off and a baby berry is starting to form.

Typically, a nice white bloom is 30 days from becoming a red, ripe strawberry. If the weather cooperates, that is!

Healthy strawberry plant

These healthy white blooms are about 30 days away from becoming a ripe strawberry.

Young strawberry plant

The petals have dropped off and a baby berry is starting to form.

Stay tuned for strawberry picking updates. If Mother Nature is on our side, we’ll begin picking strawberries at the end of April or beginning of May this year. For the latest picking updates, follow us on Twitter @ChilesPeachOrch and check #whatspickingCPO.

Under the new pavilion at Chiles Peach Orchard

Our new pavilion offers shade on a hot day and will also serve as a covered event space.

Come enjoy our new pavilion

If you drove by the orchard this winter, you might’ve wondered what all the activity was. (We’re not bears, we don’t hibernate during the winter—we work!) We’re excited to invite visitors to enjoy the shade under our new pavilion. The pavilion will get the most use during events; we’re especially looking forward to the Orchard Jams series on Friday evenings through the end of September.

If you have general questions about farm life or orchard crops, let us know! We’ll address as many as we can during this season’s orchard outlook videos.

Farm market, tasting rooms, cover pavilion, and fire pit at Chiles Peach Orchard in Crozet, VA

The perfect space for an outdoor gathering!

Orchard Jams, free music at Chiles Peach Orchard

Orchard Outlook: Strawberries

5/8/18 Update: Strawberries are now in season! We anticipate that strawberries will be available until early June.

April Showers…

It’s a very exciting month here at Chiles Peach Orchard: April. Our plants are beginning to blossom and so is the promise of juicy fruit and summer days. Peaches have just finished blooming, cherry trees are at peak prettiness, and our apples are just beginning. We anticipate starting strawberry season the second week of May, depending on the weather between now and then. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @ChilesPeachOrch for the latest picking updates (#whatspickingCPO).

cherry blossoms at Chiles Peach Orchard

Life of a Strawberry Plant

Our patch is currently covered to protect it from chilly nights, but the plants are strong and healthy under the tarp! This big blanket keeps the heat in and prevents frost from settling on the plants. You can tell things are going well because the leaves are vibrantly green and have a lot of growth. In some spots, the petals have already fallen and little strawberries are starting to form. Once the fruit blooms, it takes about 30 days to ripen into the perfect strawberry, so we are getting close!
Strawberry plant flowering

Ready to Pick?

Once the patch is ready for pickers, you’ll want to look for berries that are red all the way to the tip. Did you know that strawberries don’t ripen after they are picked? That’s right—a green strawberry will stay green when you take it home, so hold out for those gorgeous red strawberries. For tips on how to pluck strawberries from the plants without damaging them, see our how-to guide.

Goodbye, Strawberries—It’s Peach Season

Goodbye, Strawberries

One of the longest strawberry seasons in recent history has drawn to a close. The berry fields have been picked bare, their fruit gone into jams, pies, and children’s snack packs. There’s nothing like a red, ripe strawberry and we can’t wait to welcome berry-lovers back to the orchard for new year’s crop of pick-your-own strawberries next May.

What was your favorite strawberry season memory? Share your story with us and our community of “outsiders”!

A post shared by kathleen ross (@kathleen.ross) on

Hello, Peaches

Strawberries have had their day in the sun, which can only mean one thing—it’s peach season! The peach trees are loaded with pounds upon pounds of fresh, juicy peaches (Seriously, how do the tree limbs support so much delicious fruit?).

Pick-your-own peach season typically runs mid-June through mid-September. See our fruit availability calendar for a full schedule of pick-your-own availability, and follow us on Twitter for daily weather and picking updates, #whatspickingCPO.

Donut and white peaches won’t be the only stone fruit filling the farm market this summer: ready-picked nectarines will also be available.

A post shared by Rachel Mcdonald (@rachelgail12) on

Can’t Wait to See You, Vegetables and Flowers

An exciting new venture, pick-your-own vegetables, and flowers will start sometime in July. Eat farm fresh with pick-your-own and ready-picked squash, zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, and tomatoes throughout the summer.

We dare you not to smile when presented with a colorful bouquet of our flowers. Flower varieties will vary over the next several months, with sunflowers and zinnias available throughout.

Summer is nearly upon us, and with it comes a bountiful harvest of fruit, flowers, and fun. See you at the orchard, outsiders!

A post shared by Lauriel (@themelaninwanderer) on

A post shared by John Athayde (@boboroshi) on

A post shared by Alex Nelson (@alex18nelson) on

Behind the Scenes at Chiles Peach Orchard

Springtime Frost Affects Strawberry Plants and Peach Trees

For our peach ice cream, apple cider slushies, and strawberry frozen yogurt, fruit and icy cold are a winning combination. When freezing temperatures threaten the crops before harvest time, however, we’re not so fond of freezing fruit.

To protect our crops from the cold, we have a few warming methods up our sleeves. For peach trees, wind machines are used to circulate air through the orchard and prevent frost from settling on the fruit. Strawberries are protected with overhead sprinklers that water the strawberries, freezing the plants before the frost can touch them. The ice on the plant creates a barrier between the bud and the frost and helps to seal the heat in like an igloo, known as the “igloo effect”. We also protect the strawberry plants by laying canvas covers (check out our video on Facebook) over the strawberry patch—you could call that the “blanket effect”!

Spring may have come early this year but that doesn’t mean Old Man Winter is done with us yet; we will continue to closely monitor the forecast for frost until May.

How the Orchards Prepare for Frost

View the original Albemarle Co. Orchard Preps for Spring Freezes article on NBC29.com

View another clip Fruit Farmers Concerned with Cool Temperatures article on NBC29.com

Strawberries Are Going to Be Early This Year!

Listen to Cynthia Chiles talk with Les Sinclair about strawberry season, expected to begin in mid- to late-April.

Listen to the original podcast posting on wina.com