The Tart West Coast Pie You Probably Won't Find On The East Coast

Some pies belong anywhere and everywhere, easily adapting to regional tastes and recipes. You'll find apple, cherry, and pumpkin pies baked, served, and loved in professional and home kitchens across the country. But there's a luscious, dark-purple, sweet-tart fruit pie that's still largely tethered to one section of America's West Coast: The marionberry pie, a Pacific Northwest favorite made from one of Oregon's most beloved berries.   

When the fruit are in season, it's fairly easy to find marionberry pies in bakeries, diners, farm stands, and roadside cafés scattered across Oregon, and to a lesser degree, in Washington State. But it's unlikely you'll casually discover the pie — and its namesake ingredient — on the East Coast. It's certainly a dessert worthy of going mainstream, but the exclusive nature basically comes down to growing climates. Oregon berry growers credit the state's mix of mild marine air, fertile ground, clean water, sunny days, and cooler nights with helping berries ripen in their own sweet slow time, which helps develop the unique flavor defining marionberry pies. 

That explains why at least 90% of marionberries in the entire world come from 4,500 commercial acres in Oregon, which produces up to 33 million pounds of the precious berries every year. That's a lot of berries, but not nearly enough for consistently exporting to the East Coast — if folks there even wanted them. Pie lovers on the "other coast" are far more familiar with blueberry, cherry, apple, peach, or blackberry pies, so a marionberry pie takes a bit of explaining. In Oregon, on the other hand, it's embedded into the state's food culture, even being designated in 2017 as the official Oregon state pie. 

Being a both-coaster, by birth and later by choice, I'll never forget my first tarty-sweet taste of marionberry pie on Washington State's Whidbey Island, where the berries are grown by Eckholm Farms, a small operation located inside a national historical reserve. It was a far cry from homemade pecan pies made from endless rows of pecan orchards in my native Mississippi Delta, and as I discovered, marionberry pies are much easier to make. Rather than endlessly cracking infamously tough pecans shells, the pleasingly pluckable marionberries grow simply and gently, similar to their blackberry heritage. 

Marionberries are actually culitvated blackberries, created by cross-breeding Chehalem and Olallie blackberry varieties. The variety was released in 1956, and named for Marion County, Oregon. These dark, glossy, long berries bring an entirely new taste to the table, more tart than standard blackberries, but also sweet, earthy, and complex, giving rise to its nickname, the "Cabernet of blackberries." In pie form, that translates into a filling that's deep and naturally rich, perfect for complementing with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Or there's also Tillamook Marionberry Pie Ice Cream, one of our 22 foods you need to try in Pacific Northwest. 

Marionberries largely remain a fresh summer berry and comfort food favorite for West Coasters, but East Coasters may find them imported cross-country in frozen form, giving pie-potential throughout the seasons. If you can get your hands on these punchy, high-personality berries, making a pie involves simple ingredients: Marionberries, sugar, a thickener, and pie dough, similar to other blackberry pies. Some marionberry pies don a full-covered top crust, while others go for lattice or crumble toppings. The important thing is a berry-forward persona, so let those little lovelies carry the pie season.