American Pie

As Cindy related in her blog, we have recently been overrun with apples from the tree in our backyard. We harvested about half of them a couple of weekends ago, and then sliced, diced and froze them for future pies, crumbles, buckles and other baking opportunities.

The tree was there when we bought the house, so what variety the apples are is still in question. We think it is "Akane", an early season apple with firm flesh and plenty of juice. Developed in Japan in the 1930s, it represents an unusual marriage of the classic English early variety, Worcester Pearmain, and the high quality American heritage apple variety, Jonathan. Whatever it may be, they are better eaten in pie than out of hand.

Apple pie has, in a way, become a tradition itself. Pumpkin may be the primary pie at Thanksgiving, but apple is what brings me back to the table after too much turkey. The fragrant aroma of apples and spices signals many that Christmas is upon us, and what Fourth of July would be complete without apple pie. A flaky crust topped with vanilla ice cream, a crumble topping with whipped cream, an open-face Tarte Tatin...it is looked forward to regardless of the shape it takes.

What makes apples and apple pie so all-American? We didn't invent either, as the wild ancestors of apples can be found in Western Asia, specifically in Kazakhstan, and apple pies have been eaten since long before the European colonies were started in the Americas. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, apple pie became a symbol of American prosperity and national pride with "as American as apple pie" becoming a stock phrase.

Then again, as long as we have pie, does it matter?