Tapioca is often used in fruit pies not to soak up the juice but to thicken it so that the pie isn't runny. tapioca is just another starch. You can also use flour but that makes the juices cloudy, starch makes the juice thick but keeps it clear.

LisaAJB said:

When I was a little girl I had an Aunt B (Beatrice) who was an amazing cook. She was one of those farmer's wives cooks who made desert with every meal. She taught me a lot of cooking basics such as baking cookies and frying potatoes. Unfortunately, she died of brain cancer while I was still in middle school, and she never taught me any of her more advanced recipes. She made amazing rhubarb pie, but neither my sister or my cousins or I remember how she did it. It had something like 12 saltiness crackers in it to soak up the juices. Have you ever heard if a rhubarb pie recipe like that? Do you have any long lost recipes in your family?

Lisa…i found a recipe using saltine crackers. it comes from Iowa so maybe it is a regional thing, however it says the recipes came from all across the nation." It is in the Amish cookbook… More Country Cooking.

I haven't tried this recipe so I don't know how it turns out. I hate to post a recipe on Farm Bell that I havent tried so…I can private message you if you still want the recipe. let me know