The Apple pie. History, origin and tricks

The apple pie . History, origin, day and tips to make you feel delicious.

Flour, water, butter and apples. (It sounds like a Mary Poppins song! ) It’s just four ingredients, but don’t they make your mouth water? Yes, friends, I mean the apple pie.

Whatever its preparation, because there are many ways to prepare it, I can’t help but have that feeling.

Beyond confessing my weakness for this dessert, today I will try to tell you a little more about it. I will start at the beginning, its origin.

The origin of the apple pie

As with almost everything good in contemporary western culture, we have been led to believe that apple pie, the well-known apple pie , is an invention of the Americans. They even use the expression ” as American as apple pie ” , which means as American as apple pie , to highlight their belonging! We have to recognize that it is a symbol of its gastronomy.

Nor can we deny the fame that the cinema has given to this cake. However, the origin of this dessert is diffuse and, given the circumstances, we must assume that it was born in Europe . This continent has a long tradition of apple cultivation .

On the other hand, the European pastry r ecetary has a large number of cakes and fruit fillings . There are dessert books from the 14th century where recipes for apple pie or stuffed with other fruits, such as pear, were already collected.

Among the written documentation on this subject, it is worth mentioning the cookbook The Forme of Cury, edited in 1390 by the cooks of Richard II of England. In its pages appears a recipe for apple pie; They call it “tartys in applis” .

We could say then that, in the absence of other references, apple pie originates from England . In fact there is evidence of its spread, in the fourteenth century, through the British colonies. These, with the French and Dutch, are believed to have brought her to the United States and other countries.

Variants of apple pies

We can think of apple tart as a fruit tart made from a dough coated in apple . And it is. But , as I said at the beginning, there are varieties in which the dough envelops all the fruit, as in the traditional Anglo-Saxon apple pie .

Other modalities, such as the French tarte tatin , are made upside down, placing the dough on the fruit and then turning it over. Surely you have also tried those in which apples, whole or sliced, are placed on top of the dough and have creams.

These are of the Norman type . Others, like the German apfelstrudel and its Austrian variant , have dried fruits, such as raisins and almonds, wrapped in a fine dough.

As a curious fact, in Venezuela apple pie is consumed for breakfast and snack. Bakeries bake these individual cakes daily, which look like apple strudel . They don’t have cinnamon or any other spice, just apples, sugar and fat, and since the pasta has sugar, the top usually comes out of the oven with an attractive caramel color.

Recommended ingredients for an apple pie

And if the preparation is varied, so are the ingredients . Because although the basics that we mentioned at the beginning are always present (flour, water, butter and, of course, apples), we can incorporate other flavors with spices , nuts or preserves and jams ; from cinnamon, lemon or orange blossom water, nutmeg and cloves, to eggs or creams … As we always say, cooking is imagination.

In most cases these aromas are used to quench the sweetness of the sugar as much as possible. It should be noted that the first recipes did not contain sugar since in the Middle Ages cane or beet sugar was a luxury that few had reach.

Instead, honey was used . Traditionally, apple pie was perfumed by adding lemon juice or rum.

The bases of a good apple pie. Mass

We can also play with different masses , using puff pastry , short pastry or biscuits . The tart dough is made with wheat flour, butter and sometimes egg. It can be, as we say, a shortcrust pastry or puff pastry.

Once kneaded, it is placed in the oven at medium temperature until it reaches consistency. Some closed doughs of the cake make the apple cook inside, making the wrapping dough that retains the aromas. So that the dough is not too dry, you can sometimes add cream .

The apples. What is the best variety to make a cake?

And of course, the main ingredient, apples . Granny Smith, Golden, Great Maiden, there are around 7,500 types of apples; as many apple varieties as tastes. And that is an advantage. For example, the Canada pippin, the pippin queen, the boskoop beauty, or the white calvilla are perfect for cooking; they do not expel too much water and give the cakes a unique flavor.

Another option is to mix different varieties: some of those mentioned for cooking and others more acidic such as pink lady, elstar, fuji or braebum. The mixture will enhance the flavor of our cake.

Although it is also possible to make apple pie with dried or packaged fruit, the ideal is to use fresh apples. In general, we tend to opt for the varieties of our region.

International Day of Apple Pie

The truth is that it is one of the most popular and international fruit tarts. So much so that there is even an International Apple Pie Day . On March 3 is the day when the whole world celebrates this dessert, one of the oldest and consumed.

In the United States also celebrate May 13 as the National Day of the apple pie ( National Apple Pie Day ), that something is, as Apple Pie Council , the favorite dessert of Americans: One in five Americans prefer to any other dessert, and 35% of the population takes it for breakfast.

Thus they pay their particular and deserved tribute to this delicious delicacy that has become a national symbol.