For the last two weeks, I have been feeling a bit under the weather. I was struggling with a bad head cold, that turned out to be COVID-19. Before I got sick and went into isolation, I had done groceries and specifically bought the ingredients I needed to make a gravestone recipe that I had been eager to try. Once I was on the mend I decided to try some baking to lift my spirits, and use up the blueberries before they went bad. So for today’s blog post, I wanted to share my experience making Margaret Davis’ Glazed Blueberry Pie.

The grave of Margaret Davis can be found in Mountain View Memorial Park, in Washington State. Margaret rests with her husband Eddy, beneath a beautiful black marble monument designed as a bench. Their grave is adorned with a beautiful color portrait of the couple, doves of peace, the American flag, and a bible quote. If you look to the left side of the monument, you will also find a note From the Kitchen of Margaret Davis, her Glazed Blueberry Pie recipe. 

I was not able to find much information about Margaret in life, but from her gravestone, we know that Margaret was born on the 4th of July in 1918. Her husband Eddy was born in September of the same year. They were married on Boxing Day in 1942. Margaret passed away on November 6th, 2004 at the age of 86. Eddy passed away 6 years later at the age of 90. Underneath the recipe that adorns their gravestone is the symbol of the Freemasons, telling us that Eddy was a member. There are also a couple of other symbols as well that could tell us more about the couple’s affiliations in life, but they are cut off in the photos I have seen, and I can’t decipher them. There are currently no photos of the recipe side of the gravestone on Find a Grave, but a quick google search should bring up photos of this cemetery recipe.

Here is the Recipe:

From the Kitchen of Margaret Davis

Glazed Blueberry Pie

• Soften a 3 oz. pkg. cream cheese.
• Spread in bottom of cooled, cooked pastry shell.
• Fill shell with 3 cups of blueberries.
• To an additional 1 cup of blueberries add 1 cup of water.
• Bring just to boiling.
• Simmer 2 min.
• Strain reserving juice, about 1/2 cup.
• Combine 3/4 cup sugar, and 2 tablespoons corn starch.
• Gradually add reserved juice.
• Cook, stirring constantly until thick and clear.
• Cool slightly and add:
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• Pour over berries in pastry shell and chill.

This recipe is straightforward and easy to follow. The only issue I came across is the fact that blueberries are not currently in season here. So, the blueberries I was able to find were the non-organic kind that are comically large, and because of that are not very flavourful. And no, I didn’t lose my sense of taste or smell while I was sick. I will need to try this recipe again in the summer months when the local blueberry patches are ripe and plentiful. Because the blueberries were oversized, also messed with the measurements a little bit. I ended up using less than the 3 cups the recipe calls for, as my pie shell could just not fit them all. 

Despite all that, this recipe turned out deliciously! It’s almost like a blueberry cheesecake, but much easier to make. And because I made it during my isolation, I had it all to myself! That is another reason to make this pie again in the summer, so I can share it with friends and family. Baking and enjoying Margaret’s recipe helped relieve some of the boredom I was feeling at the time and helped take my mind off things.  

Will you be trying out this recipe? Do you have a family pie recipe that you would put on your gravestone? I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

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References:

• H Margaret Rees Davis | Find a Grave
• The Longstanding Trend Of Etching Recipes On Gravestones | Tasting Table