As we all know, apple pie is a delicious, fruity treat, perfect cold, hot, with custard or cream, and full of yummy scrummy spices and sugar and stuff.

However, good citizens, I come to you today with disturbing news.

It has recently come to my attention that a number of Americans are suffering under the delusion that applie pie is an American dish. Clearly this is a very serious issue, and must be treated with the appropriate levels of maturity and respect. Therefore it is with little regret that I, with no further delay, proclaim to all those who would tarnish the good name of apple pie:

Bugger off.

That's right. Toodle-pip. Cheerio. Ta-ta.
The apple pie, in all its glory, is as English a dish as crumpets and scones.


18th Century Print of a 14th Century Apple Pie Recipe. Click for larger version.

The English 1381 recipe shown above lists the ingredients as good apples, good spices, figs, raisins and pears. Key ingredeients in a good apple pie.

Traditional English apple pies were less sweet than most pies nowadays, down to the difficulty in acquiring sugar, which was very expensive at the time. Roughly the equivalent of $100 per KG in today's money.

Apple pies, as we all know, are delicious with custard or cream or just on their own, both hot and cold. However, when America was first inhabited, they didn't have any normal apple trees, the only apples being crab apples, which nobody really likes.

The trees for growing cooking apples had to be carefully imported from England, as did several of the other ingredients, such as the figs, spices and raisins, at least until Americans managed to get their own stable plantations up and running.

It only recently came to my attention that America considers apple pie to be one of its signature dishes. I feel that this is a preposterous claim, but I understand that people mistakes, so I will allow this heinous abomination to go unpunished under the sole premise that everyone in America unconditionally agrees that I am right and they are wrong, and that apple pie is English. Also each one must send me a homemade apple pie in the mail.

So while it is true that the recipe for apple pie has been modified somewhat over time, with accessibility to sugar becoming more widespread and cheap, apple pie is most definitely an English treat.