Tuesday's Cupful: Background on Apple Pie

Origins go back further than you think

There’s nothing more American than apple pie. The modern and traditional incarnation of apple pie was handed down to American Colonists from England. However, the practice of pre-filling a baked bread or pastry with fruit or savory ingredients dates back to the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Egyptians. The Greeks used a precursor to the modern pie crust that was simply flour and water. Meanwhile, the Pharaohs employed cooks that sealed ingredients into flatbreads before baking them. In the 17th and 18th Centuries, the practice of making baked puddings, such as marlborough pudding, led to baking apples pies, but the addition of sugar came later and sweetened most of the contemporary recipes.