1800's foods Gertsen and Dunn Family Cookbook 1920s History Specialty Foods admin 4 years agoNovember 25, 2021

Lemon Pies March 14th National Pie Day, March 14th

This March 14^th is National pie day and I thought this would be a good time to write all about this lovely dessert. With further research, it seems that every August 15^th is Lemon Meringue Pie Day, I did not know this until studying for this posting. I may repeat it in August and just add more recipes that I find in the next several months.

The lemon was originally cultivated in the north of India and they have been utilized in cuisines around the world for centuries. Its use in sweet and savory dishes follows the silk road and the traders that traveled it bringing the rare and exotic from China, Asia and the Eastern areas of the world to the Europeans. Along with spices and glorious fabrics of shimmering silk, they brought all kinds of fruits and vegetables to the European and eventually the American tables.

At some point in time someone combined egg, milk or cream, sugar and then lemon into a pastry shell to make a tart.

The tart or pie traveled to the Americas with the Quakers in the 1770’s and a version of a lemon pie made with the whole lemon is still found in the Shaker communities. It is thought the lemon pie with a custard base and meringue top was invented in 1806 by Elizabeth Goodfellow who one day had too many egg whites and decided to add some meringue to the top of her pie. She had a cooking school for young ladies and a bake shop where she sold many famous creations. Her lemon meringue pie was published by one of her students, Eliza Leslie in her famous cook book along with many others of Elizabeth’s recipes.

There is also a historical reference for a lemon custard pie that Abraham Lincoln favored at a hotel in Illinois run by Nancy Breedlove, that he stayed in several times during some court trials in the mid 1800’s. The recipe was requested by Mr. Lincoln and was considered a favorite dessert in the White House.

https://www.10best.com/interests/food-culture/the-all-american-history-of-lemon-meringue-pie/

There are at least four theories of its origin but no one knows for certain the truth. All we know is this sweet and tangy fabulous pie is a favorite all over the world.

In a quote from the Nosey Chef website;

“The history of the lemon meringue pie is a complete mess. Considering it is a relatively recent invention (because meringues are not super-ancient), it is quite frustrating to find at least four versions’ events – one of which is very protective of the dish’s status as American. Here are the various versions of genesis of the lemon meringue pie:

Elizabeth Goodfellow. Early 1800s Philadelphia is the scene of Goodfellow’s sweet treat enterprise that supplied the folks of Philly with baked goods and desserts. Goodfellow never wrote recipes down, but her students did. Eliza Leslie recorded the lemon meringue pie in a 19th Century cook book.

Alexander Frehse. Swiss baker Frehse invented the dish in the 1800s. This version is all over the Internet, but the text used is nearly always a copy/paste from the unreferenced Wikipedia article.

Emile Campbell-Browne. Wigbeth, Dorset, 1875 – botanist Campbell-Browne had his staff make the dish for Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury at a hunting ball, in Wimborne St Giles, Dorset.

Chester pudding. This is a chicken and egg situation. The Victorian English Chester pudding is exactly the same as a lemon meringue pie.”

Lemon meringue pie

https://delistories.puratos.com/lemon-pie/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_meringue_pie

In every cook book or newspaper cut out or the handwritten notes and books that I have there is at least one recipe for Lemon pie. It seems everyone loves a good tangy lemon pie; some with meringue on top, some with just the lemon curd and some as a lemon custard. This is just a quick look at some of my books, there are so many this would be too long of a post.

A small cookbook from the early 1900’s (there is no cover so I do not know any date or name on it) this excerpt has some info on the lemon. Obviously, it was an advertising book for a Dr. Price and the extracts he made. I got this in a set of cooking items from Havertown PA and I can date some of it to 1879 through 1948.

Royal Baker and Pastry Cook book with no date.

This book has two dates on it 1884 and 1885. All of these are from the Havertown PA lot of recipes.

Lately I have been finding a lot of lemon pie recipes in the books I am going through; these first two sort of stood out for the similarities of them. Both are from the mid to late 1800’s; the first one I have published before in the calendar timeline for January 19^th 1875 from Burlington Vermont.

Lemon Pie

1 lemon –

Yolks of two eggs & one whole one –

1 cup sugar ½ cup sweet milk blended with – 1 teaspoonful of corn starch.

Use the whites of the other two eggs for frosting allow 3 tablespoonsful of sugar for one egg.

The second one is from Dover New Hampshire in 1850’s or so and the name is interesting because a pie costing five dollars at that time must have been very special. Lemons were not all that easy to acquire during the time period and the sugar can be considered an expensive ingredient as well. Even so, it just does not seem to be a Five-dollar pie? It is just a bit simple.

Delicate or Five Dollar Pie

1 cup of sugar. The yolks of 2 eggs ½ cup of water- 1 tablespoonful of flour- the grated peel of 1 lemon & the juice- Beat well together. Then put into the pie & bake till brown, let it cool, then take the whites of the eggs beat to a stiff froth & add 6 tablespoonsful of white sugar. Spread over the top pie & brown again.

This is also a lemon pie; the ingredients are almost the same.

From Dover New Hampshire a small handwritten and a few newspaper articles that dates from some of the ingredients to 1850 to 1900. One newspaper clipping from the back of it, I can date the names mentioned to 1864-65.

A small book from Lebanon PA that is dated 1875.

So, a lemon meringue pie is a special dessert and considered something to make for an occasion.

There are all kinds of recipes throughout these books made from lemons and oranges, pies and cakes; here are a few more lemon pies from all over the country.

St. Paul Minnesota from 1839 through 1888

A nice Handwritten cookbook from Glenburn Maine in the 1880’s.

A ledger book of handwritten recipes with date of 1902, 1903 and 1904 in the back; from Groveport Ohio.

A ledger cook book from Wabash Indiana and dates found are from 1910’s to the 1920’s

From Freedom New York in 1910, a small leather bound cookbook.

From Saris North Dakota a cookbook from Mrs. R. Olson, dates found are 1920’s through 1930’s. This has several recipes in Swedish.

A large lot of notebooks filled with handwritten recipes from 1940’s through 1950’s. Several are in shorthand and it includes a lot of life lessons and advice. These are from Columbus, Wisconsin, written by a Mrs. Corinne Christians.