There are dozens upon dozens of varieties and flavors with fillings, toppings and crusts. From nuts, to fruits to custards… pies are creative and addictive.
National Pie Day is celebrated annually on January 23rd. National Pie Day, an unofficial national holiday, simply was created to celebrate the pie. It is a day for all to bake or cook their favorite pies and share with family and friends.
In celebration of National Pie Day, you can have a bake off and pie eating contest as a gathering. Make a favorite and have some specialty coffees and teas available for the event.
History of Pie
The first pies appeared around 9500 BC in the Egyptian Neolithic period or New Stone Age.
Pie once offered cooks a practical way to bake and store all kinds of perishable ingredients. Meat, game, fish, fruits, vegetables, grains, and spices, along with more familiar fillings like berries, nuts, and custards, were mixed and matched in piecrusts that could be more than an inch thick. If fat was poured into a hole in the crust’s lid after baking, the contents could be preserved for months. Small, folded-over hand pies were given to travelers and field laborers, who kept them stashed safely in their pockets or rucksacks until mealtime—a messy-sounding practice, until you realize that the crusts were probably more like papier-mâché shells than the flaky delicacies we admire today.
Photography: Kim Smith Miller