More About National Cherry Pie Day

To learn more about the tangy cherry pie, we must first dive into the history of pies as a dessert. Historians believe the first pie was made by the early Romans, who came up with the idea through the Greeks. The ancient Roman pie was quite different than the desserts of today. These pies were often made with a sweet or savory filling put inside a reed. The reed plant was meant to hold the filling, but the reeds were not eaten, just as a container for the filling which was scooped out. The Roman pie recipes were not always clear, and the fillings could have been made with a variety of ingredient combinations. As the Romans spread their knowledge of pie, they began to frequent Europe in the 14th century. The Oxford English Dictionary shows that the word pie became most frequently used in this era, as recipes spread across Europe. Historians later discovered that the first written pie recipe came from the Romans and included a filling of rye flour, goat cheese, and honey. The first European pies were not those we know today. Often called “pyes”, they had quite a grotesque recipe. These pies were meat pies made with a variety of fowl and small prey. The pie crust was called the “coffyn” and many of these pies were mostly crust with tiny amounts of filling. In pies using fowl as a filling, the legs of the fowl were jammed into the crust and used as handles to eat the pie! Fruit pies began to develop in the 1500s. The first time a cherry pie recipe was served was to Queen Elizabeth I in England! As the pies spread to America, they were often served in Roman style, where the crust was discarded after the filling had been eaten. Researchers assume that the term “crust” as we know it today was created to replace “coffyn” during the Revolutionary War! Many centuries later, pies have become one of the “most traditional American deserts” with many using the phrase “as American as apple pie”!

Date & Time

February 20, 2025

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