New-York tribune., 1900-01-14
PUMPKIN PIE IN ENGLAND.
A CLAIM AND A THEORY AS TO 1T
ORIGIN.

ORIGIN.
Speaking recently at the annual dinner Of the
Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club, says writer
in 'The London Globe" the American Am
bassador incidentally assured his hearers
that on the birth of their patron saint the
Scotsmen of the New World converted America
from the Atlantic to the Pacific into another
land of cakes This year, however, the Scottish
celebration concids IS with the American Thanks
giving Day an occasion on which America spe-
cialIy emphasizes her claim to be the land OF
pie. This particular taste is no doubt the herlt-
age of the AnglO-SaXOn race; and II the PIE
pudding, or even cake, 1t made Sm;lll
difference to ancestors. You may lead
me round the town with pudding" said the
old English yeoman' and pudding or pie, or the
hope of them, have led his descendants much
further afeId since then Even the one high
dish of the American festival, the pumpkin pie
of universal acclaim. was eaten and approved
in Old England long before a New England was
thought of.
But, though pie may be essentially English,
continues the same authority, are as
sured that "a thousand American seedlings
have sprung from the original stock" And
of these pumpkin pie appears TO have been
accepted as the great chieftain and repre-
sentative of the race. Even the famous cram
berry and huckleberry upstarts yield to it the
pride of place, and it is the absolute sine qua
non" of the Thanksgiving dinner. Of course
cousins have excellent foundation to
build upon, their grand orange colOred pump
kins far surprising growths in rich
ness and flavor. And the pie itself has now
assumed a new order of architecture, appear
ing oftener in the form of delicate COnfeCtion
I than in that homely guise in which our an
Cestors were wont to welcome. or, at all events
to sit down to it.
The West of England seems to have been the
cradle of the pumpkin pie. First must have
come the discovery that the uncoOked gOurd
no delicacy in itself, followed probably by
the experience that treatment in the family
copper did not add greatly to the monsters
palatabilty. Later on, no doubt the oven was
tried, but still with no very favorable result
At this stage of the enterprise some mute
genius of the countryside found himself mys-
teriOusly possessed of a luminous idea. He
kept it dark. Probably he "slept it, for few
! seasons, but finally resolved to test it's value
Being wight of some fancy and intelligence
he bided his time. That is to say he waited fol
the day when his good wife should be absent
at the fair Equanimity was the one thing
| necessary for so great an experiment
Thus armed with forethOught and the sharp
est knife III the establishment the inventor pro-
ceeded to cut door in the side of his pumpkin
/
Through this aperture he. removed the seedy
and fbrOus centre Of the fruit, replacing it with
a sufTiciency of nicely quartered collins He
had no cloves to stick in one for luck and his
views of the sugar question were probably con-
trolled by those exercised in that behalf by his
practical helpmate Perhaps he used honey
but on this point the oracles are dumb Care
( fully rehtting the pumpkins open door. and the
! old brick oven having been propitated with ar
| extra faggot, the candidate Tor immortality
/ popped IN his pie and nerved himself to bide
the event. Some happy painter of the genre
! might have found inspiration in this dramatic
! interval But perhaps only an exponent of the
| Dutch school could have realized all the posi-
/ bilities of the situation.
1he moment of projection arrived. The yourC
| was removed to the table, and the masters
| wooden spoon found its way to the reekine
heart. 1t tasted pretty much of apple and the
cook may have experienced some of those mis-
/ givings which ultimately overlook the China.
man when he realized that every pig roasted
! cost mm house as fuel A baked apple at the
price Of whole pumpkin was not to be thought
| Of. but 'scooping around. the experimenter came