{"id":8313,"date":"2026-10-19T15:18:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T06:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8313"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:49:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:49:43","slug":"apple-pie","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/apple-pie\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Pie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Apple pie is a dessert made by enclosing apples in pastry and baking them. As it bakes, the apples soften, and their aroma and juices spread inside the pastry. Styles include the double crust, which encloses the filling with a bottom and a top, the lattice top and the crumb topping, and fillings range from raw apples that are cut and packed in to apples that are stewed and strained. Countries also differ in how they choose their apples and how they enclose the juicy filling.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A plate served with vanilla ice cream, photographed in Lysekil, Sweden (March 23, 2020). The photographer presents it as an apple pie and also records a method that adds oatmeal. Photo: W.carter \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. A reduced-size version was obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Apples shrink when baked<\/h2>\n

Tart apples that hold their shape and soft apples that break down when cooked produce fillings of different density after baking. Besides using a single variety, bakers can also combine several varieties that differ in flavor and in how they turn out when cooked. Cutting the pieces to a uniform size is also necessary for even cooking.<\/p>\n

If raw fruit is piled high, the apples shrink as they cook, and a gap can form between them and the top crust, which has already set. Lightly cooking the filling before it goes into the pie makes the apples shrink beforehand, so the finished height is easier to predict. When raw apples are used, the amount of fruit and how it is cut are adjusted so that the pastry also bakes through properly.<\/p>\n

The bottom and the top bake differently<\/h2>\n

For American-style pastry, a common method is to mix cold butter or shortening into flour and bring the dough together by adding liquid. Some recipes (ingredient proportions and methods) combine the flavor of butter with the ease of handling of shortening. The pastry is not necessarily made like laminated puff pastry, by folding regular layers of fat over and over.<\/p>\n

The bottom crust covers not only the base of the pan but also its sides, so it must be rolled out larger than the top. This difference in area is a factor in recipes that do not divide the dough equally by weight between top and bottom. While the juices of the filling dampen the bottom, the top browns first, so the brown color of the surface alone cannot tell you whether the whole pie is baked.<\/p>\n

Check that the juices are bubbling well, that the apples are suitably tender, and that the bottom crust is baked through. If only the top colors too early, a cover is used. There are also methods such as thickening the juices with flour or starch and baking the bottom crust first, chosen to suit the pan and the filling.<\/p>\n

When the top is covered with a single sheet of pastry, steam vents are made by pricking it with a fork or cutting slits. With a lattice top, the spaces between the strips of pastry serve as openings. Surface patterns not only change the look but also let out moisture heated inside.<\/p>\n

The filling continues to change after baking. Hot juices flow easily and thicken as the pie cools, so cutting it right after baking can make the filling run out. Even when it is to be served as a warm plated dessert, cooling the pie thoroughly first, cutting it, and then rewarming a slice helps the slice keep its shape.<\/p>\n

Spices, sweeteners and keeping the apple peel<\/h2>\n

Besides pies with a strong note of cinnamon, there are also pies centered on the aroma of apples and boiled cider. The choice of white or brown sugar, and of peeling the apples or leaving the peel on, changes the color, the aroma and the chew of the fruit. Combining unpeeled fruit with brown sugar, boiled cider, a little cinnamon and cream adds the richness of cream to the texture of the peel. In Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, apple pies differ from shop to shop in sweetness, tartness and the strength of the cinnamon. Even with apples from the same growing area, the flavor changes with the combination of varieties and how the spices are used.<\/p>\n

\n\"Red\n
Fuji apples in an orchard in the Iwaki district of Hirosaki, where each shop makes its own apple pie (October 16, 2016). Photo: \u3042\u304a\u3082\u308a\u304f\u307e,Aomorikuma \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. A reduced-size version was obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Dutch appeltaart, baked in a deep pan<\/h2>\n

Some Dutch appeltaarten have a sweet pastry dough lining the bottom and sides of a deep round pan, generously filled with apples. The apples are combined with cinnamon, sugar and raisins, and breadcrumbs sprinkled on the bottom absorb the juices. A lattice top of crossed strips made from the remaining dough holds down the thick layer of fruit from above. Serving it with whipped cream is also popular.<\/p>\n

In appelkruimeltaart, crumbs of fat, flour and sugar are scattered over the top. The crumbs are not joined into a single sheet; they are baked to a golden color with large and small pieces left as they are. Some recipes make the dough lining the bottom and sides and the crumb topping to different formulas, and simply switching the top from a lattice to crumbs changes the layer the teeth meet first.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A slice showing a lattice top and thickly packed apples. The cut surface varies greatly not only with the name of the dessert but also with the thickness of the pastry and the fruit. Photo: Shisma \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 4.0<\/a>. A reduced-size version was obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Ideas for fruit and fillings preserved in old cookbooks<\/h2>\n

\u201cTartys in Applis,\u201d in an English culinary record from 1381, combines apples with figs, raisins and pears and uses spices and saffron. It is a short recipe for baking chopped fruit in a pastry case, preserved in the appendix of an edited collection of old cookbooks published by Samuel Pegge in the 18th century.<\/p>\n

In \u201cAppeltaerten,\u201d from the Dutch book \u201cEen notabel boecxken van cokeryen,\u201d soft apples that break down when cooked are peeled and cored, packed in, and covered with a lid of the same dough. After baking, the center of the lid is cut out, the filling is broken up and mixed with spices and cream, and the tart is returned to the oven once more. This sequence, which builds the seasoning into the middle of the baking process, differs greatly from methods that combine everything at the start.<\/p>\n

Amelia Simmons\u2019s 1796 \u201cAmerican Cookery\u201d contains a recipe that adds lemon peel, cinnamon, mace, rosewater and sugar to apples that have been stewed and strained. Smooth fillings, not only thick slices of fruit, have long been an option.<\/p>\n

Nor was it only fruit in season that went into pies. In early 19th-century New England, apples were stored in barrels and also dried for pies. Using preserved fruit for the filling meant pies could be baked even after the autumn harvest was over. The US Army cookbook \u201cThe Army Cook\u201d likewise lists dried apples and canned apples as ingredients alongside fresh apples. Dried apples require a rehydration step, so even in the same double-crust pie, the condition of the fruit differs from that of fresh slices.<\/p>\n

How an imported dessert became an American symbol<\/h2>\n

English and Dutch fruit pie techniques traveled to the colonies, where they changed to suit the apples grown there, fruit that could be preserved, readily available lard and other conditions. In late 19th-century American newspapers, a fondness for pie was linked to domestic norms, while in 1902 pie was also criticized as a food that damaged health.<\/p>\n

An 1895 newspaper treated whether immigrants liked pie as a kind of litmus test of \u201cAmericanization.\u201d In a 1918 Boston editorial, soldiers\u2019 longing for pie overseas was linked to freedom and democracy. The phrase \u201cas American as apple pie\u201d appears in a 1924 menswear advertisement in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The ad used the phrase to sell American-style clothing as opposed to British-style clothing. The homemade dessert, once treated as a measure of immigrants\u2019 \u201cAmericanization,\u201d also became a metaphor for the nation.<\/p>\n

Serving it with cream, working in cheddar<\/h2>\n

One British recipe serves warm apple pie with custard and cooled pie with thick cream. In this way of eating it, a milk-based sauce is poured over the pastry and fruit. In the United States there is also \u201c\u00e0 la mode,\u201d with a scoop of ice cream on the side. Besides serving cold ice cream with warm pie, there are also methods that add dairy to the pastry or the filling.<\/p>\n

Some versions pair the sweet fruit with the saltiness of cheddar. Sally McKenney\u2019s recipe folds grated cheddar into pastry made with cold butter and also adds it to the apples inside. It is a pie that layers the saltiness of cheese over the sweetness and tartness of the fruit.<\/p>\n

Mock apple pie, made without apples<\/h2>\n

Mock apple pie is a dessert that uses crackers instead of apples to imitate apple pie. In the Littleton Museum\u2019s recreated recipe, crushed crackers are soaked in water, combined with apple cider vinegar, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, and enclosed between top and bottom crusts. The apple cider vinegar provides tartness, the cinnamon and nutmeg provide aroma, and the water-soaked crackers form a soft filling.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

\u30fbCrust<\/strong>: The dough that forms the outside of a pie, or the baked shell.\n\u30fbDouble crust: A construction in which both the bottom and the top are made of pastry.\n\u30fbShortening: A solid fat used to adjust the tenderness and ease of handling of dough.\n\u30fbCider: In American baking, pressed apple juice; it does not necessarily mean an alcoholic sparkling drink or a carbonated soft drink.\n\u30fbMace: A spice made from the aril that surrounds the nutmeg seed.\n\u30fbSamuel Pegge: An English antiquary. He edited and published the medieval cookbook \u201cThe Forme of Cury\u201d and a separate old culinary record.\n\u30fbSally McKenney: An American cookbook author and baker. She has published a recipe that adds cheddar to the crust and the apples.\n\u30fbCheddar: A hard cheese originating in England. Some recipes add it grated to the crust and the filling.\n\u30fbAmelia Simmons: Author of \u201cAmerican Cookery,\u201d an American cookbook published in 1796.\n\u30fb\u00c0 la mode: In the context of American pie, a way of serving a baked slice with ice cream alongside.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n

  1. \u30fbPJ Hamel \/ King Arthur, \u201cCreate your own special apple pie\u201d<\/a> \u2014 varieties, precooking, the amounts of top and bottom dough, and choices of fat, peel, sugar and flavoring.\n\u30fbKing Arthur, \u201cHow to Bake Pie\u201d<\/a> \u2014 the role of fat, baking the bottom crust, prebaking, handling the juices.\n\u30fbDBNL, \u201cEen notabel boecxken van cokeryen,\u201d item 123, \u201cAppeltaerten\u201d<\/a> \u2014 an edited version of the old Dutch text. The step of opening the lid after baking and seasoning the filling. The electronic text of the 1994 edition was checked, not the original page images directly.\n\u30fbHistorical Society of Pennsylvania, \u201cA Pinch of History: Amelia Simmons’s Apple Pie\u201d<\/a> \u2014 an introduction to the recipe in a facsimile edition in its collection. The 1796 steps of stewing and straining, and the seasoning. The article\u2019s medieval explanation and the writer\u2019s modern adaptation have not been used.\n\u30fbGabriella Petrick \/ Smithsonian, \u201cWhy Americans Love Their Apple Pie\u201d<\/a> \u2014 a food historian on pie and American symbolism, and the relationship among newspapers, advertising and home cooking.\n\u30fbHirosaki Tourism and Convention Bureau, \u201cApple Pies of the Apple Town\u201d<\/a> \u2014 the relationship between the growing area and the dessert; how to compare sweetness, tartness and spice.<\/p><\/li>

  2. \u30fbProject Gutenberg \/ appendix to Samuel Pegge\u2019s edition<\/a> \u2014 the appendix ANCIENT COOKERY A.D.1381 in the edition, XXIII Tartys in Applis: apples, pears, dried fruit, spices and saffron. The public electronic transcription was actually read. Not checked against manuscript images. This is a separate culinary record in the appendix of the same book, not the text of the Forme of Cury from around 1390. No claim is made that it is the oldest.<\/p><\/li>

  3. \u30fbBakkenderwijs Hollandse appeltaart<\/a> \u2014 a Dutch home recipe: deep round pan, lattice of strips, apples, raisins, breadcrumbs. One contemporary household\u2019s actual practice. Not used to explain the earliest historical appearance.<\/p><\/li>

  4. \u30fbSabine \/ OhMyFoodness Appelkruimeltaart<\/a> \u2014 crumbs made to a separate formula, the bottom crust and sides, breadcrumbs to catch the juices. The contemporary author\u2019s own practice. Not treated as a rule for all Dutch products.<\/p><\/li>

  5. \u30fbSally McKenney Apple Cheddar Pie<\/a> \u2014 the author\u2019s recipe for a cheddar crust and apples, and her explanation of cheese served alongside. A contemporary author\u2019s recipe. The earliest date and region for serving pie with cheese are unconfirmed, so no definitive claim is made.<\/p><\/li>

  6. \u30fbLittleton Museum Mock Apple Pie<\/a> \u2014 the museum\u2019s recreated Mock Apple Pie recipe: crackers, water, apple cider vinegar, sugar, spices, top and bottom crusts. The museum\u2019s modern published recipe was checked. It is not a source supporting a 19th-century origin or the year Ritz began promoting it.<\/p><\/li>

  7. \u30fbNational Park Service, \u201cLyddie: Voices from the Field \u2013 Food in New England\u201d<\/a> \u2014 an explanation of the early 19th century prepared with the cooperation of food historians. Apples were stored in barrels and dried for pies. Does not indicate how often individual households did so year-round.\n\u30fbNational Park Service, \u201cArmy Pie Recipe\u201d<\/a> \u2014 reprinted from pp. 215\u2013216 of the US Army cookbook \u201cThe Army Cook.\u201d Fresh, dried and canned apples and the handling of each were checked. The publication year has not been determined here.\n\u30fbBBC Berkshire, \u201cApple Pie\u201d<\/a> \u2014 the published recipe on p. 1 of the PDF: custard with warm pie, thick cream with cold pie. Not treated as a uniform custom in all British households.\n\u30fbKing Arthur Baking, \u201cDairy-free pie crusts and fillings\u201d<\/a> \u2014 a practical example of \u00e0 la mode, serving pie with ice cream. Not a source on the origin of the name.<\/p><\/li>

  8. King Arthur Baking, \u201cApple Pie,\u201d updated July 10, 2026<\/a> \u2014 step 12 on venting steam, and step 17 on the filling thickening as it cools and on rewarming after slicing. The dough, temperatures and formula of this individual recipe are not treated as conditions common to all pies.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Apple pie is a dessert in which a toasty pastry holds in the juices of the apples. Some are covered with a sheet of pastry on top, some have a woven lattice, and some are small wrapped pies. Where the fruit is enclosed changes both its appearance and its texture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7040,"menu_order":68,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Apple Pie","subtitle":"The shape of the pastry around the apples reflects the ingenuity of home bakers","topics":"Apples \/ Pie pastry \/ Regional differences in how the fruit is enclosed","country":"United Kingdom \/ United States","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["fruit"],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[168],"class_list":["post-8313","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"manual","sweetlore_related_articles":[8271,8294,8316,8317,8245,8246,8247,8248]},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t