About 55-60 years ago I had an experience with cherry pie I thought had ruined it for me for life. The rodeo in my town was a community affair, had events such as greased pigs for the kids to chase around the arena with a prize for the one caught it, a calf with a bull durham bag containing a dollar tied to its tail, and a pie eating contest.
Might have been the year I was twelve we kids chased the pig, and were covered with grease and manure, then topped it off with the calf and more manure before we lined up either side of a table full of cherry pies. We were to feed that pie to the kid across the table who concurrently fed us pie.
Across from me was a kid named Jerry Haynes, who’d been out front with the pig and calf, so his hands weren’t a pleasure to look at holding a piece of pie intended to be consumed. But I gave it my old junior-high try.
And from that day until yesterday I’ve never since enjoyed the sight of, the taste of a cherry pie.
But yesterday Gale and Kay invited me up to share Christmas dinner with them. Kay had made a pie, but had discovered she was out of white flour. She’d never heard of anyone using wheat flour, but it was all she had, so she tried it, expecting it to be less-than-hoped for. A cherry pie.
My heart sank a little when I saw that pie, not because of the crust. But I took a piece of it prepared to do my best to enjoy it. But instead of it being forced I was surprised with a crust with a nutty flavor and among the most enjoyable pie experiences of my entire life. Absolutely delicious.
I’m thinking now it might have broken the cherry pie curse Jerry Haynes handed me all those decades ago.
So if you’re scared of wheat flour for pie crust you might be glad afterward if you take a shot at it.
Old Jules
So Far From Heaven 
I love whole wheat flour pies; just about any fruit will do.
Morning Ed. You might look into something used to be called ‘Fruit of the Forest’ pie in the rare places it was found. I can’t think of the name of the celery-like veggie with a tangy flavor ahh rhubarb… along with apple, berries, all manner of overlapping flavors. Fantastic. Gracias, Jules
In southern Alaska, rhubarb grew with the most negligent of care. Lots of rhubarb pie I ate there, along with some mixed fruit pies.
Ed: I had rhubarb pie all the while growing up because we raised a lot of it in the garden. But I first encountered Fruit of the Forest, rhubarb pie with all the other stuff, in a restaurant at Jemez Springs, New Mexico. The fruit made a major difference, though rhubarb pie’s good. Gracias, Jules
That, is real food♥
Morning eremophila: Thanks for coming by. The senses have convinced the brain it’s real, anyway. I suppose that’s close enough for government work. Gracias, Jules
mmmmmmm………
Glad I missed your adventure. For the past year I have been gluten intolerant and have been on a bit of a mission to duplicate some basic things like pie crust with a good substitute. I am happy to report that a couple of weeks ago I made the best pie crust ever in my life and it had not even a smidge of wheat flour in it. It was better. Awww simple things are the best.
SL Schildan: So what substitute did you use? Jules
I’ve always been under the impression you have to add gluten to whole wheat so you can work it. I’d be most interested in what was substituted for the gluten free crust, however…
Let’s Cut the Crap: If I knew I’d surely tell you. Gracias, Jules