1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey Brainstuff, 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:11,040 Speaker 1: Lauren bog Obam here for many winter holidays in the 3 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: United States aren't complete without a pumpkin pie. And honestly, 4 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: where would we be without the pie inspired pumpkin spice lattes. 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: But think about this, pumpkin pie is a pie filled 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: with squash. Who in the world decided to fill a 7 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:32,240 Speaker 1: pie with a squash? The history of how pumpkin pie 8 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:36,560 Speaker 1: became so popular is a story that smashes together medieval traditions, 9 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 1: indigenous food from Africa and the America's and the most 10 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,159 Speaker 1: sought after goods of ancient trade routes through Asia and 11 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:48,520 Speaker 1: the Middle East. But first, let's start simply with the pie, 12 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 1: which was more popular during the Middle Ages in Europe 13 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: than it is in the US today, according to Ken Albila, 14 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: a professor of history at the University of the Pacific 15 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: in Stockton, California. He's also the author of more than 16 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: twenty five books about food and food history, including food 17 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: in early modern Europe. He told this via email. There 18 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: were a lot of pies, fruits, meat, fish, vegetables in 19 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: medieval times. Pies looked much different than the ones we 20 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: know today, and people didn't eat the crusts. That's because 21 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: pie crusts at the time were made of a dough 22 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: that was thick, bland, and stiff, not flaky or buttery, 23 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: and we're most often single use cooking and serving vessels. 24 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: They were made free form, without pie dishes or plates, 25 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: so they stood higher and had to be harder than 26 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: what we're used to seeing in pies today. Albala said 27 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: people poured hot, gelatinous gravy into a hole at the 28 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: top to keep air out, and often, but I don't 29 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: think always, they broke open the pie and scooped out 30 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: the contents, throwing away the crust. Some historical evidence shows 31 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: that those crusts may have been soaked and eaten by 32 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: servants or the poor. But all that ended a round 33 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: the fourteen to fifteen hundreds, when people figured out how 34 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: to or perhaps could more widely afford, to make crusts 35 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: more tender. When European colonists arrived in North America, eating 36 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: pie crust became normal and a very important part of life. 37 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: A food was scarce, especially during winters, and eating pie 38 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:20,640 Speaker 1: crust became a great way to stretch small amounts of 39 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: food to feed hungry people. By the sixteen hundreds, eating 40 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: a slice was the way to savor pie. As for 41 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: the filling. In medieval Europe, there was no pumpkin. Instead, 42 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: Europeans made pies with other gourds, favoring varieties that originated 43 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: in Africa. Europeans only got their first taste of pumpkins 44 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: when explorers, colonizers, and slave traders brought pumpkins back from 45 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: their trips to the Americas. While it took years for 46 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,360 Speaker 1: Europeans to warm up to some other foods from the Americas, 47 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: and things like potatoes and tomatoes were considered poisonous, they 48 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 1: took to pumpkins quickly because they were similar to the 49 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:02,520 Speaker 1: gourds that they were already familiar with. But Wheater Albala said, 50 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: pumpkin pie, as we know it is fundamentally medieval. Pumpkin 51 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:11,959 Speaker 1: spice is a classic medieval combination. And yes, let's talk 52 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: about the spice combination that we today associate with autumn 53 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: desserts and coffee shops. In the Middle Ages, it wasn't 54 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: just used for sweet pies. A similar spice combination was 55 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:25,639 Speaker 1: used in everything that folks could afford to during that 56 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: time period. Not only did it taste good, But those 57 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 1: same spices were also considered a status symbol that wealthy 58 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: people used to flaunt their riches. Sugar was rare too, 59 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: so if you could offer guests a feast featuring spices, sugar, 60 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: and vegetables from the New World, you were rolling. Albala said, 61 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: you find the cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg combo everywhere up 62 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: into the sixteenth century. By then they were often combined 63 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: with sugar too. There are standard and poodare for combinations 64 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: that are spicier, with pepper, sometimes grains of paradise. But 65 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: what we think of as pumpkin spice goes into most 66 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: recipes until French haw cuisine in the seventeenth century begins 67 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: to banish them to the end of the meal along 68 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:16,359 Speaker 1: with sweets. Ultimately, by the eighteenth century, the British lost 69 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: their love for pumpkin pie and began to negatively associate 70 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: pumpkins with Native Americans. They instead preferred apple, pear and 71 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: quince pies, which they considered more sophisticated. But at the 72 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: same time, conists in America began to make pumpkin pie 73 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: on their own. Consider the book American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. 74 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,039 Speaker 1: It's considered by food historians to be a kind of 75 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:43,479 Speaker 1: culinary declaration of independence from England. It's the first cookbook 76 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: ever written by an American featuring ingredients indigenous to America 77 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: and published in America. Simmons recipe for pumpkin pie goes 78 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: one court stewed and strained pumpkin, three pints cream, nine 79 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: beaten eggs, sugar, mace, nutmeg, and ginger, laid into paste 80 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,040 Speaker 1: numbers seven or three and with a doe, spur cross 81 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: and checker it and baked in dishes three quarters of 82 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: an hour. Simmons recipe is very close to what we 83 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: recognize today as traditional pumpkin pie, with one exception. Her 84 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: recipe calls for that top crust. By the early eighteen hundreds, though, 85 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: pumpkin pie became a single crust pie and a mainstay 86 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:27,160 Speaker 1: of American cuisine and Thanksgiving feasts. By the way, if 87 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: you prefer your pie in the morning, perhaps after a 88 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: Thanksgiving feast with a cup of coffee, you're upholding another 89 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:37,359 Speaker 1: American tradition. Up until the late nineteenth century, people regularly 90 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,880 Speaker 1: ate breakfast pie, including flavors like pumpkin and apple. Breakfast 91 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:44,359 Speaker 1: pie was on hotel and restaurant menus and held a 92 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: regular spot on the breakfast menus in the homes of 93 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: people like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Oliver Wendell homes. Today's 94 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:57,799 Speaker 1: episode was written by Shan Chavis and produced by Tyler Clang. 95 00:05:58,240 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: For more in this and lots of other tasty tip 96 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,840 Speaker 1: fix visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is 97 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts in my 98 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 99 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.