The Sweet & Sour of it

an innovative creation from a thrifty kitchen

As they say, “necessity is the mother of invention.” And thank goodness for that or we may not have some of the comfort foods or iconic dishes we enjoy today. Dishes like tuna noodle casserole, macaroni & cheese, and meatloaf are results of times that required homemakers to be thrifty and creative to put filling and nutrition food on the table.

But there’s more to nourishing a family than just putting nutritious main dishes on the table. Sometimes a special treat is required to instill a sense of normalcy. Pies have played this part in North America since colonial times.

Carrying recipes from their native home lands, our colonial foremothers brought the art of pie making to North America and quickly adapted them to take advantage of ingredients available in their new home land. 

Local ingredients would create pies that would define certain regions in the States. The dairy-rich Midwest would become famous for its custard pies like sour cream raisin.

This would result in what we now call regional pies. Pies sweetened with maple sugar in the northern states, blueberry pies in Maine, citrus pies in Florida, custard-based pies in the Midwestern states, and pecan pies in New Orleans. Each pie relying on seasonal products of the area. 

Once upon a time, we ate with the seasons. Fresh apples were plucked from the trees and enjoyed at their zenith in the Fall. And fresh, plump blueberries were joyfully consumed in Late Summer.

But what happened when something wasn’t in season? Yes, once upon a time blueberries were not available in the winter, and apples weren’t available in the summer. Crazy, I know. But, true!

Well, you substituted of course. Crackers would stand in for apples in mock apple pie, oatmeal would take the place of nuts in pecan pie, and vinegar would replace lemon juice, in what would become vinegar pie. I told you these ladies were innovative. 

I may come back to mock apple pie and oatmeal pie in another article, but today I want to talk about vinegar pie. 

Often called “desperation pie,” the vinegar pie is often associated with the Great Depression. But it actually appeared in newspapers as early as 1859. Though, the origin of this pie is lost to time, I think our intrepid homemakers created a treat for their family utilizing a staple ingredient that was almost always on the pantry shelf.

Vinegar was the original household multi-tasker. It flavored foods, preserved food, was used to staunch vomiting, and clean windows.

Vinegar is a true multi-tasker. It can be used as a cleaning agent, prescribed for its medicinal properties, used to preserve foods, or add a tangy counterpart to dishes. And when citrus or local fruits were unavailable, it would turn sugar, butter, eggs, and spices into a sweet, tangy dessert. This pie is not only a testament to ingenuity and resourcefulness, it also created a sense of comfort and familiarity when times were particularly abnormal.

Fun food fact, colonial homemakers turned to round pans to make pies, literally cutting corners to reduce the amount of ingredients required.

Vinegar Pie

Makes: (1 - 8-inch Pie) • Prep: (25 minutes) • Cook Time: (30 minutes)

Often called a desperation pie, I prefer to think of this as a pie of ingenuity and resourcefulness. The vinegar add a brightness to the pie successfully playing the proxy for the fresh fruits of summer.

Ingredients

• 1 single-crust pie dough 

• 3 tablespoons flour

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon allspice

• 1/8 teaspoon cloves

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoon butter

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 egg

• 2 tablespoons vinegar

• 1 cup water

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350˚F. 

2. Combine the flour, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and salt in a small bowl, stirring well, set aside.

3. With a hand mixer, stand mixer, or by hand, cream butter and sugar together until well combined.

4. Add the dry ingredient mixture, egg, vinegar and water, stirring well to combine.

5. Cook the mixture in a double boiler, over medium-high heat, until mixture coats the back of the spoon, about 6 - 8 minutes.

6. Line an 8” pie plate with your pie crust, crimp as desired.

7. Blind bake the crust for 5 minutes.

8. Pour the filling into the pie crust and continue baking until crust is golden brown and filling is set, about 30 minutes.

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