Washington Grown is made possible by funding from the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

And by The Potato Farmers of Washington.

Learn why Washington is home to the world's most productive potato fields and farmers by visiting potatoes.com.

- Hi, everyone, I'm Kristi Gorenson, and welcome to Washington Grown.

Berries, like these blueberries, are tiny powerhouses of nutrition, they have antioxidants, they have minerals, and fiber that we need for healthy digestion.

In today's episode, we're gonna learn how some of the best berries in the world are grown right here in Washington.

Tomás is picking blueberries at Bow Hill Blueberry Farm.

- You just can't beat produce off the vine, off the tree.

So good.

- And I'm making apple and cherry pie at Macrina Bakery.

- It can be messy, so stand aside while you're pushing it down.

Did I get you?

- Stand aside.

Put the goggles on.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Plus, Val's visiting the Lynden Raspberry Festival.

- Raspberries are by far my favorite berry, so I'm excited to be here just on my own.

- All this and more, today, on Washington Grown.

[upbeat music] This is my favorite part of the day.

[Leslie laughing] You gave me this job just to keep me occupied, didn't you?

This is what fine dining is all about, right here.

[Tomás and dog barking] I could eat these all day.

- You all make this look so simple and easy.

Cheers to that.

- I only hang out in pretty potato fields.

[airplane whooshing] [upbeat music] - If you live in the Seattle area, chances are you've heard about a local place called Macrina Bakery.

With five locations around the west side of the state, it sure would be a shame to miss all the sweet treats that are lovingly crafted to bring fresh Washington ingredients to anyone with a sweet tooth.

- You walk in and everything looks good.

trying to decide, you're just like, oh, maybe I'll just have one of each.

- They just have very fresh food.

It's really a nice place to stop by in a really fun neighborhood.

- And it was very good.

Highly recommend.

- I think that bakeries are an affordable luxury.

Everyone needs a treat.

- Leslie Mackie is the founder of Macrina Bakery.

Over nearly 30 years, she and her team have worked hard to make incredible pastries, bread, and baked goods.

- We started in Belltown, 1993.

I wanted something a little bit smaller scale and so then I opened Macrina thinking like, oh, I can take a month off a year.

This is gonna be a part of my life, not my entire life.

- And how'd that work out?

- Little did I know?

- No, it's just a really nice, calm, tranquil place.

- Upscale, modern feeling.

It's open, but it still is welcoming.

- It's just a nice place to grab a coffee and something sweet to eat.

- Don't miss later on the show when Leslie and I make a special apple and cherry pie.

- I have a rule of thumb, I always cut it right there to that finger joint.

- It's a rule of thumb.

- It is.

- Badumbum.

[both laughing] [upbeat music] [upbeat music] - The Skagit Valley is no stranger to incredible berries.

And here at Bow Hill Blueberries, they're growing some of the juiciest, tastiest, and might I add some of the biggest blueberries around.

- We really love the varieties that we do grow.

And a lot of people, they'll tell us, like, "I've tried other blueberries and yours are the best."

- Audrey Matheson started farming with her brother Ezra two years ago.

Now their focus is on organic and sustainable stewardship here on the farm.

And although this may be a new operation for them the blueberries have been here for a long time.

- It was a huge help for us to get in where the farm was already established.

I mean, these plants know what they're doing for the most part.

So it's just us here being stewards as organic farmers.

[upbeat music] - And you don't actually expect me to go to a u-pick blueberry farm without picking some berries for myself, do you?

These look amazing.

These are big fatties.

- Yes, they are.

Yeah.

So this is our blue crop variety.

- Oh, man.

[Audrey laughing] - Yeah, the blue crop has- - It's so sweet.

- A sweet and a little floral, I think.

- So, is there a technique?

Is there something I should look out for when I'm picking blueberries?

- There definitely is.

So first of all, you want to look for the darkest berries.

'Cause those are gonna be the sweetest.

So you kind of find a bunch, and you're gonna cup your hands like this.

- Okay.

- And with your thumbs in front, you're gonna get your bucket situated underneath and you're gonna use your thumbs to gently pull off all the ripe berries.

- Look at that - Directly into your bucket.

- In my bucket.

From my bucket to my mouth.

[upbeat music] It's a nice day to be on a blueberry farm.

- Yeah, it's not bad.

- So as we're walking through the blueberry fields here, I see we've got this guy up here.

What's the story with this?

- So this is one of our wavy Davies.

He helps us keep the little birds from coming down on the field and decimating all of the blueberries.

- Oh, I see.

Okay.

- So as an organic farm, we have to choose some different ways for keeping the birds off the blueberries once they're ripe.

- Right.

- So this is one of 'em.

- Boy, I've already got so many berries in my bucket.

- Enough to make a good pie?

- Or a couple of mouthfuls.

- Oh okay.

- Mmm, mmm, so good.

You just can't beat produce off the vine, off the tree.

If you've never experienced that before you just gotta get out to a farm, taste that produce after it's been picked.

There's just nothing like it.

In addition to the u-pick operation, Audrey and her team also operate a market store where they sell all sorts of products from blueberry powder to homemade blueberry juice.

Well, all right, look at this cute little place.

Oh my goodness.

- This is our little farm store where we have all of our blueberry goodies - And flannels.

- And flannels.

You have to have a flannel and a beanie if you live here.

You got to.

- So how many blueberries would you say makes one of these?

- We put in over a thousand blueberries into that size blueberry juice.

- Into one jar?

- Yes.

- There's 1000 blueberries - 1094.

- 94 to be precise.

Look, it even says it right there.

Not five.

- Nope, not five.

- Not three, 94.

- I love blueberries.

So you have to, 'cause otherwise, what are you doing?

- What are you doing this for?

[both laughing] [upbeat music] Hey, let's go.

After a long hard day of picking blueberries.

Nothing hits the spot better than some delicious Tex-Mex-style tacos delivered right to the farm.

- I'm Jerry Sanchez.

I own Estilo Valle.

- Okay.

- Estilo Valle means valley style.

I'm a local here to Skagit County.

My dad was from Mexico and my mom was from Texas.

So the combined foods that they would make together.

Yeah.

- That's Tex-Mex.

- Yeah, that's Tex-Mex, literally - Aside from the amazing meat he smokes, the secret ingredient for his tacos is the special pico slaw made with fresh crunchy Washington cabbage, tomatoes, jalapeño vinegar, and lime juice.

Wow.

I don't even know where to begin, my friend.

Look at that beautiful plate.

Cheers, my brother.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

All right, let's see what we got.

Not only is that beef delicious, but that crunch of the slaw.

- Right?

- It's perfect.

It's perfect with the soft tortilla and then- - Oh, yeah.

- Oh my gosh.

And you're right, that sauce is incredible.

It kicks up that nice heat, but it doesn't burn your mouth or anything like that.

- Yeah, right, right, right.

- I can eat these all day.

Let's see what the people on the farm think of these Washington-style Tex-Mex tacos.

[upbeat country music] - Oh, that's good.

- That's really good.

- That's really good, huh?

- I would eat this all day.

- That's what I said too.

- I can't tell, I need a couple more.

- The meat is really well seasoned - And then the crunchiness of the pico de gallo comes through, especially with that cabbage.

- It really shines.

It adds that vinegar kind of flavor to it.

- It's really bright.

- It's fresh too.

You can tell it's fresh.

- Yeah, it makes you want another bite.

'Cause it's not too hot.

[Tomás laughing] - It's all just right.

It really is.

- After this I think we should go get some blueberry ice cream, right?

- Yeah.

I think that would be a perfect dessert.

Absolutely.

- So let's do it.

[upbeat country music] [upbeat music] - How many pounds do you think a commercial blueberry bush produces during the harvest season?

We'll have the answer for you after the break.

- Coming up, I'm making an apple and cherry pie at Macrina Bakery.

- It can be messy so stand aside.

But you're pushing it down.

Did I get you?

- Put the goggles on.

- Yeah, exactly.

- And we're in The Kitchen at Second Harvest trying out some raspberry sour cream pie.

[calming country music] - A commercial blueberry bush produces around eight to 10 pounds during harvest.

[calming music] - We're back at Macrina Bakery in Seattle with tons of regular staples and new menu items.

It seems anything and everything that comes out of the kitchen is a hit with the customers.

- Well, one of my most favorite things here are these crostini.

- I always pick up the blueberry scones.

- Their harvest bread is really, really good.

- Ooh, I really like the blueberry scone.

And they have a cherry almond one as well.

That one's like my number-one favorite.

- They all sound delicious so they catch your eye but they look like a million bucks.

- Couple years ago I was invited to go to a raspberry harvest.

- Leslie Mackie is the founder of Macrina Bakery, using local ingredients, her menu is specially designed to be fun, fresh, and high quality.

- I've always used individually quick frozen or IQF fruit.

But I didn't understand the integrity or the innovation behind the whole industry.

Oh my goodness, my eyes were just totally opened up.

We got to go on a harvester in the fields in the middle of July.

Truly, it's a four-hour turnaround from the time when it's harvested.

- Right.

- Cooled down, washed, flash frozen, and then packaged.

And so the freshness is just terrific.

- So what are you and I gonna make today?

- So today we're gonna make a double-crusted apple and cherry pie.

- Yum.

- Yes.

- Apple and cherry.

Sounds good.

I can't wait.

[Kristi and Leslie giggling] We're in Macrina's test kitchen at your production facility here, right.

- Exactly.

- So this is where the magic happens.

We're gonna make apple cherry pie, right?

- We are.

One of our favorites here.

- Doesn't get any more Washington state, I think, than apple cherry pie.

We start by peeling and cutting up some Granny Smith apples.

Then we add sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and flour.

We toss it all onto a baking sheet and cook it for 20 minutes.

Then it's onto the pie dough.

You have pre-packaged, pre-made pie dough.

- We do.

- That's awesome.

- Yeah.

It's a frozen product we sell in our cafes.

- Okay.

- And it just takes away the fear, the intimidation of baking.

- One thing I know about bakers is that they're strong.

- Yes, it's true.

- You have to be strong.

- So if this is 10 inches we're gonna go a couple inches over.

So I'm gonna go about a 14-inch circle.

- Okay.

- That's my goal.

- Mine usually end up looking very oblong.

- I have a rule of thumb.

I always cut it right there to that finger joint.

- Oh, okay.

It's a rule of thumb.

- It is.

- Badumbum.

[both laughing] Next, we add some vents to the top crust then move on to pitting the cherries.

It's time for these beautiful Washington cherries.

These are what kind?

- These are the bing cherries.

- Bing cherries.

- It can be messy so stand aside.

But you're pushing it down.

Did I get you?

- Stand aside.

Put the goggles on.

- Yeah, exactly.

- When the apples have finished baking we let them cool and then toss them with the cherries and add them into the pie.

We dot the filling with butter.

Then seal the top with an egg wash. - This is such a lovely thing to have like in a summer barbecue.

- Yeah.

- This is the perfect dessert for that.

- Everyone's favorite person when you show up with something like this.

- I know.

And it makes the house smell so good too.

- Oh, yeah.

We fold the crust up, sprinkle on some sugar, then bake the pie for about an hour.

When it's all complete, we finish it off with some herbs and powdered sugar.

- Perfect.

- Yay.

[upbeat country music] This is my favorite part of the day.

- Yeah.

- It's tart.

- It is.

- Which I love.

- Doesn't take a lot of sugar.

- Those apples and cherries together are so good.

- So tasty and it's a celebration of Washington, celebration of the season.

- You don't get your side of the pie.

I'll just take the whole side.

- Yeah, that's fine.

No problem.

- To get the recipe for Macrina Bakery's apple and cherry pie, visit wagrown.com.

[upbeat music] - Today we are gonna be taking the fear out of making jam.

Washington State has amazing berries.

We are the number one producer of blueberries and the number two producer of raspberries and we have an abundance of them every single year.

So we want to just take all that flavor and be able to freeze it so that we can use it whenever we want.

So we're gonna take this blender here and we're gonna put four cups of berries into the blender.

We're gonna pour the pectin in and then we're gonna put the lemon juice.

We're going to just put the lid on so we don't have an explosion.

There we go.

[blender whirring] Now that's about all I want.

So you can see there, the texture is still, it still has some thickness to it there.

We have let this sit for 30 minutes.

And so now we are going to heat it up, again, we're not going to boil this.

It's just gonna be a low simmer.

We have white sugar and Karo syrup, so we're gonna add that into it.

This is gonna be four cups of sugar and a cup of Karo syrup.

And now we're just gonna stir until it dissolves, low and slow.

So you don't wanna leave this be, you wanna stay here and you're just gonna keep stirring and keep removing all those things of sugar until it is completely dissolved.

Okay, we are done now.

All the sugar is dissolved and because we didn't boil and it's not super, super hot, we can pour directly into our containers and toss them in the freezer.

Let's do the taste test on this.

Oh my gosh, you guys, that is so good.

There is nothing like fresh Washington jam.

You've gotta make this.

It's amazing - Coming up Val's visiting the Lynden Raspberry Festival.

- So all of the berries that are grown in the county here are basically within, probably, about a 10-mile radius of Lynden.

[calming music] - Today I'm in Lynden, Washington.

The capital for the whole universe.

For what?

Frozen raspberries.

That's right.

We have a whole day here at the festival and I can't wait to get eating.

I mean, to get started.

Come on.

[upbeat music] The festival is back.

And to kick things off, we track down the Lynden Chamber Marketing Director, Tammy Yoder, who helps run the festival.

- We're here to really promote the raspberry industry.

We understand agricultural is our history as a community, from potato farmers to the dairy farmer, but even especially the berry farmers now.

So that's why the Raspberry Festival was invented to give honor and say thanks to our berry farmers.

- We also ran into the Red Raspberry Commission Executive Director, Henry Bierlink, who's just as excited to be back as we are.

The industry is using the festival as a kickoff to what the red raspberry means to the market nationwide.

- What we're really doing with the raspberry industry and our promotion team now is to try to bring out the raspberry part of it and to use that as a springboard for the City of Lynden, the statewide promotion of a product that is so unique to this little area of the world.

- And you don't have to walk far to find out just how this unique berry impacts the whole community.

- I'm Erica, and I work with Macrina Bakery, and we're here to support the local economy, and enjoy the fabulous raspberry community that's here.

- So when I walked in, I saw you all were here and I was like, that's the Seattle company.

- Yeah.

- What are they doing here in Lynden at the Raspberry Festival?

- Yes.

Well, a lot of our products use raspberries and specifically raspberries from this area.

And we just like to be able to participate, and support the community, and show just how fabulous the raspberries are.

- Because all of the berries that are grown in the county here are basically, within, probably, about a 10-mile radius of Lynden.

It's a fantastic time.

We get to see all our friends and neighbors come down and just, we have so many treats between parfaits, and raspberry fritters, and pies, and mini pies.

The list goes on.

So very versatile fruit.

- My name's Krista Moss and I'm a farmer here in Whatcom County.

My family's been farming for berries since the mid-nineties.

My husband, and my dad, and my brothers they're all out in the field right now working.

It's super exciting to know that the whole community is coming around and celebrating our product.

- My mom has pictures of me in her little backpack, I've been picking raspberries and berries for my entire life.

And raspberries are by far my favorite berries.

So I'm excited to be here just like on my own.

- We all love fresh Skagit County blueberries but did you know the east side grows them too?

Today I'm heading to Eltopia to learn why blueberries grow differently across the state from blueberry farmer Alan Schreiber of Schreiber Farms.

- In eastern Washington the most common variety is an early variety called Duke.

We had these varieties that come off at different times so we'll pick blueberries here for at least two months.

- Wow.

- What we have here is a draper blueberry and we are very, very close to harvest.

This looks like it's ready, but if you turn on the back, on it's, what we call the back, it's got a red back.

It's not quite ready.

A lot of people would let this hang a little longer to develop a little better flavor profile.

We're a smaller operation here, and so we pick for the local market here.

Washington is the largest producer of blueberries in North America.

- That's awesome.

45% of Washington-grown blueberries are produced on the east side by only 22 growers.

- Our blueberries are organic, in eastern Washington, almost all blueberry growers over here are organic.

This is a special place for blueberries.

It's free of almost all the traditional blueberry diseases.

It's free of almost all the traditional insect pests.

It's a relative pest-free environment which makes it easy to be organic.

The great growing conditions, the high number of degree days.

We have excellent conditions for pollination.

And the other thing is our yields here are very high, your yields can be 20 to 25,000 pounds to the acre.

And that's some of the highest-yielding blueberries in the world.

- To me, they look a little different, maybe it's just the variety, than the ones I've seen over on the west side.

- If you look at this, they have something on it called a blush and that wipes off.

You see this?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- There seems to be more of this on eastern Washington blueberries.

- Yes, that's what I'm noticing.

Yeah.

- I'm not an expert on it but the thinking is the conditions here, hotter, dryer, they end up having a little bit more blush, little thicker skin.

- Yeah.

Organic blueberries are all handpicked requiring weeks of intense labor.

- Washington has the highest ag-labor costs in the Western hemisphere.

We're having trouble both affording workers and getting workers.

It's getting very, very expensive to grow crops that require hand labor such as organic blueberries.

- Yeah.

Well, the people who get to eat your blueberries are very lucky.

- They're lucky.

And right now, they sell like hotcakes.

- I bet they do.

And they're good in hotcakes.

- That's good.

[upbeat music] - Welcome back.

We're in The Kitchen at Second Harvest Food Bank in Spokane where we get to taste some recipes from allrecipes.com.

And I have my superstar taste testers with me.

Tomás is joining me.

- Good to see you, Kristi, and good to see everybody at home too.

- Good to see you.

- And we have Laurent Zirotti, a chef and culinary arts instructor here in Spokane.

- Good to see you, Kristi.

- From France.

- Yes.

- So we love his accent.

- Bonjour.

- Bonjour.

- Bonjour, Tomás.

- Bonjour.

- So this was the berry episode of Washington Grown and when berry season is in Washington, I am super happy.

- Oh yeah.

- Raspberries, blueberries, ah, I just love it.

- Nothing better in the summer.

And the easiest, most simple dessert you can do.

Just few berries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, a little ice cream, or just a little cream, a little whipped cream.

And that's it.

That's all you need.

That's perfect dessert.

- We're gonna taste a raspberry sour cream pie.

- Interesting.

Okay.

- Yeah.

Kathy, who created the recipe, says this is a must-have for the raspberry lovers because you can use frozen or fresh raspberries.

You can enjoy it all year.

And as we've seen throughout our years of Washington Grown is when the berries are processed to be frozen they come straight from the field.

- Right.

- Flash frozen into the bags.

So you are getting the freshest of fresh berries.

So raspberry sour cream pie.

Take a look.

- Alright.

Let's check it out, Kathy.

[upbeat music] - Beautiful.

- Oh, dessert is just, yeah, you can eat dessert anytime.

This is awesome.

Look at that.

- Yeah.

- I love the fresh raspberry on top.

- You would think that the sour cream will bring too much tanginess to the dish, but it does not.

- Really, really good.

- It's very light and refreshing as well.

- If you don't like sour cream I bet you could use a little bit of cream cheese and replace it with it.

And that will be a little different.

Call it a hybrid cheesecake.

- You can also substitute the berries for blueberries too.

- Blueberries.

Yeah.

- Right.

- And add, for example, with raspberries, you could add some white chocolate chips.

We try to make those recipes easy for you.

But if, and this is a pre-bake, I believe a pre-bake pie crust.

But if you feel that you are up to the task, make your own crust.

Make everything homemade.

And buy local and buy Washington.

- Absolutely.

Yeah.

- There you go.

Hear, hear.

- So thank you Kathy for the raspberry sour cream pie.

And another way that you can find some great recipes is through our magazine, Washington Grow Magazine.

You can find it in grocery stores across the state and there's always one recipe that is featured in there.

So check it out.

To get the recipe for raspberry sour cream pie, visit wagrown.com.

- Whether you're enjoying frozen blueberries, fresh raspberries, or maybe even a piece of blackberry pie chances are you have a Washington farmer to thank.

That's it for this episode of Washington Grown.

We'll see you next time.