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Experts
state that New England invented the fruit pie. Well certainly,
the English brought pies to this country but the Pennsylvania
Dutch stuck their fingers in the pie very soon thereafter.
If they didn't invent the fruit pie,
it is obvious that they got hold of it and developed it to the point
of no return! In Pennsylvania, the variety of fruit pies is limited
only by the fruit available, for whatever it is the German housewife
will turn it into a pie.
There is, and has always been, pie for
breakfast in Pennsylvania - and pie for lunch, dinner, and a snack
at bedtime. Pie in the Pennsylvania sky, for all I know.
You must understand
that the Pennsylvania Germans have such a lien on pie making that it
covers any conceivable kind of pie and, in Pennsylvania, anything
eatable can be tucked into pie crust and turn into a satisfactory
pie. It can be meat, vegetables, fruit, milk, eggs, molasses -
anything! And, once it's enveloped in pastry dough, that's
that.
There are pies for
special occasions, too, in Pennsylvania - and pies that perform
special services. Poor Man's Pies, or Flitche, will
make use of anything handy and satisfy the children while the major
business of pie - making goes on. Amish Half - Moon Pies, or
Preaching Pies, will not drip because they are stuffed with
dried apples but they'll keep children quiet during long Sunday
services. Rosina Boi, or Raisin Pie, bursting with the
sweetness of raisins, will console mourners and satisfy their
hunger. I could go on and on.
Old - timers in Pennsylvania provided
a constant supply of pies by baking them by the dozen and storing
them in their pierced - tin "pie cupboards." Safe in these
ventilated interiors they were always available. As the German art
of pie baking spread through the state, settlers in western counties
went the Pennsylvania Germans one better and ate "stack pies" at
their barn raisings.
They simply piled up
six or eight different pies, cut wedges down through the whole
thing, and helped themselves to a stack of all kinds of pie. It
saved having to make up their minds, probable. It's so difficult to
choose between Pennsylvania pies!
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