An
apple pie is a fruit
pieA pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough shell that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients...
(or tart) in which the principal filling ingredient is apples. It is sometimes served with
whipped creamThe term "whipped cream" refers to cream that has been beaten until it is light and fluffy, as by whipping with a mixer, whisk, or fork.Cream containing 30% or more fat can be mixed with air, and the resulting colloid is roughly double the volume of the original cream as air bubbles are captured...
on top. Pastry is generally used top-and-bottom, making a double-
crustCrust may refer to:Geology and soil science:*Crust , the outer solid layer of a planet*Continental crust*Oceanic crust*Soil crust*the dough or pastry shell of pies, pizzas, etc.Music:*Crust punk, a hardcore punk / extreme metal fusion...
pie, the upper crust of which may be a disk shaped crust or a pastry lattice woven of strips; exceptions are deep-dish apple pie with a top crust only, and open-face
Tarte TatinTarte Tatin is an upside-down apple tart in which the apples are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked.Tradition says that the Tarte Tatin was first created by accident at the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, France in 1898. The hotel was run by two sisters, Stéphanie and...
.
Cooking appleA cooking apple is an apple that is used primarily for cooking rather than eating fresh. Cooking apples are larger, and can be tarter than eating varieties. Some varieties have a firm flesh that doesn't break down much when cooked...
s (
culinary apples, colloquially
cookers), such as the
BramleyThe Bramley apple is a cultivar of apple which is often eaten cooked. Raw, most people find its flavour too sour, and it is either loved or hated...
or
Granny SmithThe Granny Smith green apple is a tip-bearing apple cultivar. It originated in Australia in 1868 from a chance seedling propagated by Maria Ann Smith , from whom comes the name. It is thought to be a seed from Malus sylvestris, the European Wild Apple, with the domestic apple M...
, are crisp and acidic.
An
apple pie is a fruit
pieA pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough shell that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients...
(or tart) in which the principal filling ingredient is apples. It is sometimes served with
whipped creamThe term "whipped cream" refers to cream that has been beaten until it is light and fluffy, as by whipping with a mixer, whisk, or fork.Cream containing 30% or more fat can be mixed with air, and the resulting colloid is roughly double the volume of the original cream as air bubbles are captured...
on top. Pastry is generally used top-and-bottom, making a double-
crustCrust may refer to:Geology and soil science:*Crust , the outer solid layer of a planet*Continental crust*Oceanic crust*Soil crust*the dough or pastry shell of pies, pizzas, etc.Music:*Crust punk, a hardcore punk / extreme metal fusion...
pie, the upper crust of which may be a disk shaped crust or a pastry lattice woven of strips; exceptions are deep-dish apple pie with a top crust only, and open-face
Tarte TatinTarte Tatin is an upside-down apple tart in which the apples are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked.Tradition says that the Tarte Tatin was first created by accident at the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, France in 1898. The hotel was run by two sisters, Stéphanie and...
.
Ingredients
Cooking appleA cooking apple is an apple that is used primarily for cooking rather than eating fresh. Cooking apples are larger, and can be tarter than eating varieties. Some varieties have a firm flesh that doesn't break down much when cooked...
s (
culinary apples, colloquially
cookers), such as the
BramleyThe Bramley apple is a cultivar of apple which is often eaten cooked. Raw, most people find its flavour too sour, and it is either loved or hated...
or
Granny SmithThe Granny Smith green apple is a tip-bearing apple cultivar. It originated in Australia in 1868 from a chance seedling propagated by Maria Ann Smith , from whom comes the name. It is thought to be a seed from Malus sylvestris, the European Wild Apple, with the domestic apple M...
, are crisp and acidic. The fruit for the pie can be fresh, canned, or reconstituted from
dried appleDried fruit is fruit that has been dried to remove some of the fruit's moisture, either naturally or through use of a machine, such as a food dehydrator. Raisins, prunes, and dates are examples of popular dried fruits...
s. This affects the final texture, and the length of cooking time required; whether it has an effect on the flavour of the pie is a matter of opinion. Dried or preserved apples were originally substituted only at times when fresh
fruitThe term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds, and the presence of seeds indicates that a structure is most likely a fruit, though not all seeds come from...
was unavailable.
The English pudding
English apple pie recipes go back to the time of Chaucer. The 1381 recipe (see illustration at right) lists the ingredients as
good appleThe apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits...
s, good spiceA spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, leaf, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for the purpose of flavour, colour, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth....
s, figFIG may refer to:*Common fig, a large, deciduous shrub native to southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean region.*Ficus, a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs in the family Moraceae.-Acronym:* Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique...
s, raisinRaisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world, such as Armenia, the United States, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Macedonia, Mexico, Greece, Syria, Turkey, India, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, China, Afghanistan, Togo, and Jamaica, as well as South Africa and Southern and...
s and pearThe pear is a tree of genus Pyrus and also the name of the tree's edible pomaceous fruit. The pear is classified within Maloideae, a subfamily within Rosaceae...
s. The
cofyn of the recipe is a casing of pastry.
SaffronSaffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus , a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. A C. sativus flower bears three stigmas, each the distal end of a carpel. Together with their styles—stalks connecting stigmas to their host plant—stigmas are dried and used in cooking...
is used for colouring the pie filling.
In English speaking countries, apple pie is a dessert of enduring popularity, eaten hot or cold, on its own or with
ice creamIce cream or ice-cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners. In some cases, artificial flavourings and colorings are used in...
,
double creamCream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, over time, the lighter fat rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators"...
, or
custardCustard is a range of preparations based on milk and eggs. Most commonly, custard refers to a dessert or dessert sauce, but custard bases are also used for quiches and other savoury foods. As a dessert, it is made from a combination of milk or cream, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla...
.
Absence of sugar in early English recipe
Most modern recipes for apple pie require an ounce or two of
sugarSugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many...
, but the earliest recipe does not. There are two possible reasons.
SugarcaneSugarcane, or sugar cane, is any of six to thirty-seven species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six meters tall...
imported from
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
was not widely available in 14th century
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where it cost between one and two
shillingThe shilling is a unit of currency used in current and former English Commonwealth countries and still used in countries which have become republics, such as Kenya. The word shilling comes from schilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of...
s per
poundThe pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
— this is roughly the equivalent of US$100 per kg (about US$50 per pound) in today's prices.
The absence of sugar in the recipe may instead indicate that, because refined sugar was a recent introduction from the Orient, the medieval English did not have quite as sweet a tooth as their descendants. Honey, which was many times cheaper, is also absent from the recipe, and the "good spices" and saffron, all imported, were no less expensive and difficult to obtain than refined sugar. Despite the expense, refined sugar did appear much more often in published recipes of the time than honey, suggesting that it was not considered prohibitively expensive. With the exception of apples and pears, all the ingredients in the filling probably had to be imported. And perhaps, as in some modern "sugar-free" recipes, the juice of the pears was intended to sweeten the pie.
Dutch style
DutchThe Dutch people are the dominant ethnic group of the Netherlands.Dutch people, or descendants of Dutch people, are also found in migrant communities world wide, notably in Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the United States....
apple pie (
appeltaart or
appelgebak) recipes are distinct in that they typically call for flavourings such as
cinnamonCinnamon is a small evergreen tree belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka, or the spice obtained from the tree's bark...
and
lemon juiceLemon juice, a fruit juice, is the juice of lemons . Fresh lemon juice is obtained by squeezing lemons. Lemon juice, either in natural strength or concentrated, is sold as a bottled product most of the time, usually with the addition of ascorbic acid and a preservative such as E223...
to be added. Dutch apple pies are usually decorated in a lattice style. Dutch apple pies may include ingredients such as raisins and icing, in addition to ingredients such as apples and sugar, which they have in common with other recipes.
Recipes for Dutch apple pie go back centuries. There exists a painting from the
Dutch Golden AgeThe Golden Age was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world.- Causes of the Golden Age :...
, dated 1626, featuring such a pie. Though it originated in The Netherlands, it is now a delicacy served around the world.
The basis of Dutch apple pie is a crust on the bottom and around the edges. This is then filled with pieces or slices of
appleThe apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits...
, usually a crisp and mildly tart variety such as Goudreinet or
ElstarThe Elstar apple is an apple cultivar that was first developed in the Netherlands in the 1950s by crossing Golden Delicious and Ingrid Marie apples. It quickly became popular, especially in Europe and was first introduced to America in 1972...
.
CinnamonCinnamon is a small evergreen tree belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka, or the spice obtained from the tree's bark...
and
sugarSugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many...
are generally mixed in with the apple filling. The filling can be sprinkled with
liqueurA liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.In some...
for taste although this is very uncommon. Atop the filling, strands of
doughDough is a paste made out of any cereals or leguminous crops by mixing flour with a small amount of water and/or other liquid. This process is a precursor to making a wide variety of foodstuffs, particularly breads and bread-based items , including flatbreads, and pancakes, noodles, crusts,...
cover the
pieA pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough shell that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients...
in a
latticeThe criss-crossing pattern of strips in this pastry is reminiscent of the laths in a garden trellis, as well as a Hasse diagram of a lattice in mathematics.The idea of latticed pastry is used as a lid to many different tarts or pies....
, holding the filling in place but keeping it visible. Though it can be eaten cold, warmed is more common, with a dash of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. In The Netherlands it is usually eaten cold with whipped cream. A variant, traditional and popular in the
AmishThe various Amish or Amish Mennonite church fellowships are Christian religious denominations that form a very traditional subgrouping of Mennonite churches. They are best known for their simple living, plain dress and resistance to the adoption of many modern conveniences...
communities of Canada and the United States, uses a topping of mixed cinnamon, brown sugar, melted butter and table cream or milk which turns into a thick syrup during baking that percolates down to the crust. In the Amish version, liqueur is never used.
Apple pie in American culture
In the English colonies the apple pie had to wait for carefully planted pips, brought in barrels across the
AtlanticThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
, to become fruit-bearing apple trees, to be selected for their cooking qualities, as apples do not come true from seeds. In the meantime, the
colonistsThe term colonial history of the United States refers to the history of the land that would become the United States from the start of European settlement to the time of independence from Europe, and especially to the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain which declared themselves independent...
were more likely to make their pies, or "pasties", of meat rather than of fruit; and the main use for apples, once they were available, was in
ciderCider is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Although cider can be made from any variety of apple, certain cultivars are preferred in some regions, and these may be known as cider apples....
. But there are American apple-pie recipes, both manuscript and printed, from the eighteenth century, and it has since become a very popular dessert.
A
mock apple pie made from
crackerA cracker is a type of biscuit that developed from military hardtack and nautical ship biscuits.-History:In 1792, Theodore Pearson of Newburyport, Massachusetts, made a cracker-like bread product from just flour and water that he called Pearson's Pilot Bread. An immediate success with sailors...
s was apparently invented by
pioneersA frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary.-Colonial North America:In the earliest days of European settlement of the Atlantic coast, the frontier was essentially any part of the forested interior of the continent beyond the fringe of existing...
on the move during the nineteenth century who were bereft of apples. In the 1930s, and for many years afterwards,
Ritz CrackersRitz crackers are a type of cracker from Wisconsin designed to be eaten on their own or with a topping. The Ritz Cracker Brand is made by a subsidiary of Kraft Foods . They are circular in shape, salted lightly on one side, and have small scalloping around the edges...
promoted a recipe for mock apple pie using its product, along with sugar and various spices.
Although apple pies have been eaten since long before the discovery of America, "as American as apple pie" is a saying in the United States, meaning "typically American". The dish was also commemorated in the phrase "for Mom and apple pie" - supposedly the stock answer of American soldiers in WWII, whenever journalists asked why they were going to war.
Advertisers exploited the patriotic connection in the 1970s with the TV jingle "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet".
There are claims that the Apple Marketing Board of New York State used such slogans as "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" and "as American as apple pie!", and thus "was able to successfully 'rehabilitate' the apple as a popular comestible" in the early twentieth century when
prohibitionProhibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is a sumptuary law which prohibits alcohol. Typically, the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries...
outlawed the production of
ciderCider is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Although cider can be made from any variety of apple, certain cultivars are preferred in some regions, and these may be known as cider apples....
.
The unincorporated community of
Pie Town, New MexicoPie Town is an unincorporated town on U.S. Route 60 in Catron County, New Mexico, United States. Its name comes from a dried-apple pie business that was established by Clyde Norman in the early 1920s. Pie Town hosts a Pie Festival on the second Saturday of each September...
is named in honor of the apple pie.
See also
- Tarte Tatin
Tarte Tatin is an upside-down apple tart in which the apples are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked.Tradition says that the Tarte Tatin was first created by accident at the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, France in 1898. The hotel was run by two sisters, Stéphanie and...
, a FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
variant on apple pie.
- Apfelstrudel
Apple strudel is a traditional Viennese strudel, a popular pastry in Austria and in many countries in Europe that once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire .-History:...
or Apple Strudel, an Austrian pie-like dish made with dough, apples, sugar and spices.
- Apple cobbler
- Apple cake
Apple cake is a popular dessert produced with the main ingredient of apples. Such a cake is made through the process of slicing this sweet fruit to add fragrance to a plain cake base. Traditional apple cakes go a step further by including various spices such as nutmeg or cinnamon, which give off a...
External links
- HomemadeApplePie.net A selection of apple pie recipes.
- Food Timeline history Notes: Apple Pie
- A Apple Pie, by Kate Greenaway, 1886. Woodblock printed children's book, based on a much earlier rhyme; from Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain...
- Apple Pie The largest apple pie recipes collection on the planet.