As American As Apple Pie?

Turns out that none of the ingredients in our favorite dessert are native to the United States. Yet history made it ours. How?

- Simran Sethi

THE GRILL GLOWS HOT, the beer is on ice, and the fireworks are ready to burst. There are burgers, potato salad, and, of course, apple pie. But this all-American dessert isn’t as homegrown as you’d think. “Not one ingredient in apple pie originates from what we call the United States,” says Libby O’Connell, author of The American Plate: A Culinary History in 100 Bites. So what’s the lineage of this seemingly domestic delight? Chew on this:

THE RECIPE The British used animal fat, wheat, and water to create airtight pastry shells with the unappetizing name of “coffyns.” These savories were usually stuffed with beef or venison. In America, the shells became flakier (like the strudels made by German immigrants) and the meat fillings were replaced with apples, a way to use up imperfect fruit.