Monday, July 4, 2016

As American As....

Happy rainy fourth of July!  I suppose I should be sad about the wet weather and I do feel bad for those who had picnic plans but I'm loving the sound of the rain. If the wind will stay down we're good to go. Fingers crossed! We needed the rain to "make" the corn.  But the wind could topple it.

I've been taking advantage of being stuck indoors to "try" and clean the house a little and to make another pie. Any excuse for pie! Blackberry today. The blueberry peach was well received at Dennis's Mawmaw Wheatleys yesterday so no leftovers and of course we need pie for the Fourth of July!

Funny fact,  did you know that the American as apple pie saying probably isn't the most appropriate.  Apples, believe it or not, are not native to North America. When the first settlers got here all they found were crab apples which you can actually do something with but they aren't exactly the greatest pies baking and such.  So tree cuttings were brought in to remedy the problem.

That's your history lesson for today,  courtesy of my Horticulture Agent husband.  If you want to learn even more though here's a link to all the great apple information at Wikipedia:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple

So as that I'm not really too big a fan of apple pie I feel justified in baking my blackberry pie, which consequently ARE native to North America!  Blueberries are too.

I got to wondering why apple became the "American Pie" so I looked it up.  Evidently it was more about the fact that, "Throughout the 1700s, Pennsylvania Dutch women pioneered methods of preserving apples -- through the peeling, coring, and drying of the fruit -- and made it possible to prepare apple pie at any time of year. In the vein of many things American, settlers then proceeded to declare the apple pie “uniquely American."
This information was taken from the following article from Price Economics:
http://priceonomics.com/how-apple-pie-became-american/

So really it was more about availability than taste. Dried apple pie is better than no pie when you need a pie fix in the middle of winter.  Thank goodness for modern food preservation though,  so I can be as pie picky as I want to be!

As a side note Tori and Gabs aren't pie enthusiasts, "gasp," I know,  how un-American! They actually baked themselves a little cake for today.  Anyhow Happy Independence Day! Here's to celebrating our freedom with whatever pie you choose...or cake if you'd rather.


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