This video is two years old now, but I decided to put it back together and share it again to say happy birthday to an amazing lady. I visited Mrs. Helen Krause at her home in Reedley, Calif., in late June of 2015.
Kellee Harris, western regional business development director at the Giumarra Cos., had been talking to me every chance we saw each other about the Mrs. Krause's Plum Pie promotion they'd been doing, and wanted to bring her to my kitchen in Austin, Texas, for a demo.
I told her no, that's not right. Let me bring my show on the road, so I made the trip to Reedley.
Mrs. Krause shared her recipe, her life story -- which was an interesting one -- and the unique technique she had for pie crust.
Born in Russia, Mrs. Krause emigrated to the U.S. when she was 5. She'd never had pie before moving to California, she said. Her parents grew stone fruit in the central valley, and she married a stone fruit farmer. I actually spent the next morning touring Giumarra's amazing DulceVida test orchards (eating an obscene amount of white nectarines) with her son Jim Krause. Delicous stone fruit is in their blood.
Mrs. Krause's pie was delicious -- and I'm sure a fair number of people were privileged enough to try it at a trade show over the couple of seasons she joined Giumarra folks at their booth.
Her pie crust was a marvel, and her memory lives on in California stone fruit, for sure.
And here's a bonus video, the "official" Mrs. Krause's Plum Pie, without my interference: