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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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