National Apple Pie Day is as American as it gets
It’s unofficially National Apple Pie Day. But when do you really need an official reason to eat apple pie?
Historians say the iconic dessert originated in 14th century England, but before that, pies existed, even fruit ones, so it’s true origins have been lost in the mists of time.
American apple pie is an amalgamation of the melting pot that created America.
The American apple pie can trace its ancestry to English pies, which were meant to hold food. The crust was not intended to be eaten — hence the notorious and, at least in the U.S., surprising idea of a meat pie.
In the United States, pie is generally thought of as a dessert. Not so the world over. A pie was simply a way to prepare food in a time before plates were affordable and prevalent.
We can thank the Dutch for their techniques to preserve fresh produce and the Germans for their dough recipes that could produce pie crust worth eating for modern apple pie.
The melting pot of immigrants in the 1800s created the dish we recognize now as traditional apple pie. A mix of techniques from a number of cultures resulted in the final American apple pie.
And it was good!
There is a period in U.S. history in the late 1800s and into the 1900s when apple pie, often topped with cheese, was a main course and not a dessert.
So, go out and find yourself a slice of this truly American piece of history and remember it is, like our nation, the merging of a number of differing cultures and techniques into something beautiful.
— JP
