Pie. It’s morethan just a dessert. It’s a potent symbol of American culture, comfort and tradition. The recipes are regional icons: the South is famous for pecan and key lime; New England rests its laurels on apple, with locally grown apples like McIntosh and Cortland; and the Midwest boasts pies with berries, such as cherry and blueberry, thanks to the region’s abundant fruit orchards.
But where do the roots of this confection lie? The ancient Egyptians crafted the earliest pie forms, constructing pastry food containers from oats, wheat, rye and barley, encasing meat or honey for preservation and transport. The Greeks and Romans followed up with more savory renditions, with flesh from birds, lamb and fish.
Centuries later, in the 1500s, the English got into the act, innovating pie recipes with fruit, including the very first documented cherry pie, baked for Queen Elizabeth I. The first pies in what would become America arrived with the Pilgrims in Cape Cod in 1620, as this culinary wizardry was suitable for long voyages…