Pie History Continued

Good Morning Pie Lovers!

More Pie history today.

It was in the New World, that pies truly continued. By the time the pilgrims had lined up for the first Thanksgiving, in 1621, they learned enough to regularly put pie on the table. (As far back as 1623, the Turkey Day pie of choice, was pumpkin pie.)

Although early colonists, like the Greeks used piecrust as tupperware, it wasn't long before the crust itself came to be considered the tastiest part of the dish. In 1957, "Betty Crocker's Pie Parade," a book about baking, included recipes for cookie crumb crusts, nut crusts, and fillings that ranged from crumb top, cream, peach, rhubarb, and even custard. Today, Americans buy some 183 million pies a year at grocery stores. According to Linda Haskins, executive director of the American Pie Council (of which we are also a member), 75 percent of all pies sold are baked in the last three months of the year.

"Portion Control," Haskins says. "Hand held versions of pies are becoming increasingly popular. Pies on a stick, pies in a jar." Pies are everywhere these days. You'd think this would have to do with swelling, waistlines, and health consciousness,  but another theory persists: So-called "personal pies" all but guarantee you'll get the last bite.

 

Still, I  think that pie is has never been more scrumptious, more full of goodness and all that implies, than when it involves little more than a perfectly ripe berry, a heavenly dollop of coconut cream, or a flaky crust..... "Who's to say precisely what Socrates had in mind when, more than 2,400 years ago in Greece, he sat at a table cooking up his definition of piety. But we're reverent enough about pie to bet that a round of phyllo and bowl of fruit were nearby." (Katherine O' Shea Evans)

Come back next week, for "Famous People's Favorite Pie."

Signing off now,

"May All your Crusts be Round."

       Natalie.