WEBVTT - What's So American About Apple Pie?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam Here. When you think of

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<v Speaker 1>the word America, what specific symbols come to mind? The

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<v Speaker 1>statue of Liberty, baseball burghers, world class albeit very expensive

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<v Speaker 1>college degree. Those are all good guesses, but for a

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<v Speaker 1>long time, a sweeter treat has represented the best and

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<v Speaker 1>worst of the United States. Apple pie. If you're from

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<v Speaker 1>around here, then it's a good bet that you've heard

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<v Speaker 1>the oft recited phrase as American is apple pie. But

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<v Speaker 1>what's the origin of this patriotic slogan. First, let's back

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<v Speaker 1>up and look at how apples landed on America's shores.

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<v Speaker 1>Apples had been cultivated around Europe and Asia for thousands

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<v Speaker 1>of years, but when European colonists arrived in the America's

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<v Speaker 1>they found only wild crab apples, small sour, dry apples

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<v Speaker 1>that aren't good for eating. Unlike some other fruits, if

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<v Speaker 1>you plant an apple seed, there's no guarantee that the

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<v Speaker 1>resulting tree bear the same delicious fruit you ate. Apple

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<v Speaker 1>trees tend to revert to their wild format. Grafting on

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<v Speaker 1>branches from developed trees helps, and you also need pollinators

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<v Speaker 1>like honey bees to grow the fruit. So although the

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<v Speaker 1>original settlers of Jamestown brought apple seeds and seedlings with

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<v Speaker 1>them from Europe and planted them in their new homeland,

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<v Speaker 1>the first apples grown in America were mostly used for

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<v Speaker 1>cider rather than dessert. Now let's talk pie. It was

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<v Speaker 1>only with the availability of granulated sugar through slavery and

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<v Speaker 1>trade that dessert pies, including apple pies, came into popularity

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<v Speaker 1>in America. Despite the apple pies common association with American pride,

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<v Speaker 1>Europeans had actually gotten the whole pie thing down centuries before.

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<v Speaker 1>A recipe for Dutch apple pie can be traced back

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<v Speaker 1>to fifteen fourteen, and the English were so enamored with

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<v Speaker 1>apple pies in the late fifteen hundreds that they even

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<v Speaker 1>came up with pie themed soliloquies. So who was responsible

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<v Speaker 1>for impressing apples into the American mindset? That would be

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<v Speaker 1>one John Chapman, also known by the more famous moniker

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<v Speaker 1>of Johnny Appleseed. Contrary to popular belief, Appleseed was no

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<v Speaker 1>mere American legend. He really did exist, and what's more,

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<v Speaker 1>he planted apple nurseries around the turn of the nineteenth

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<v Speaker 1>century throughout Ohio and other Midwestern states, and he sold

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<v Speaker 1>them at a tidy profit. Appleseed also gave away countless

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<v Speaker 1>more seedlings to pioneers who set up apple orchards across

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<v Speaker 1>the nation. He became legendary because he mostly walked estimates say,

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<v Speaker 1>somewhere around ten thousand miles over the course of his life,

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<v Speaker 1>all barefoot and with nothing but a single knife for protection.

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<v Speaker 1>He became a symbol of rugged individualism and frontier expansion,

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<v Speaker 1>and in the years since the United States has developed

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<v Speaker 1>a whole slew of truisms associated with apples, including an

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<v Speaker 1>apple a day keeps the doctor away, and one bad

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<v Speaker 1>apples spoils the bunch. The phrase American is apple pie

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<v Speaker 1>popped up in print as early as nineteen the eight

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<v Speaker 1>It was being used to describe lou Henry Hoover, the

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<v Speaker 1>first lady of the Hoover Presidency, and what a good

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<v Speaker 1>homemaker she was, But it wasn't until World War Two

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<v Speaker 1>that apple pies really became stamped into the American consciousness

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<v Speaker 1>as a patriotic pastry. By then, good apples had been

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<v Speaker 1>common for a few generations, and the dish was thought

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<v Speaker 1>of as homey and nostalgic, do perhaps to a popular

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<v Speaker 1>song titled ma I Miss your apple Pie, published in

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<v Speaker 1>nine and due to apple pie being the most frequently

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<v Speaker 1>served dessert at American military posts during the war, it

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<v Speaker 1>became a bit of a meme for American soldiers to

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<v Speaker 1>tell reporters that they were fighting for mom and apple pie,

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<v Speaker 1>and boom, the apple pie became American. Given apple pies

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<v Speaker 1>strong associations with America, it's perhaps not surprising that it's

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<v Speaker 1>not really a homegrown American product, but something baked overseas

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<v Speaker 1>and brought to these shores. But since immigrants are a

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<v Speaker 1>key component of the United States, there's perhaps no but

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<v Speaker 1>a symbol of America than this delicious dessert. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>was written by Terry yr Lagata and produced by Tyler Clain.

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<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of other

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<v Speaker 1>tasty topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com,

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