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The Pie that Crossed an Ocean
Plus Bake Off references, holiday events, and how to grow apple trees.
Ken Welch
November 20, 2025
Last weekend, I hosted a party with some friends and set the theme as a Great British Bake Off Party in the Wisconsin Dells. Yes, the waterpark rooms are cheaper in the off season. I set up a spreadsheet for anyone who wanted to bake something, and ended up with six competitors. It was mostly an excuse to sample some pavlova, challah bread, and chiffon cupcakes. However, In order to pass as judge, I needed to bake something for my group of friends that showed that I had some baking skills. It needed to be classic, pretty, and most of all delicious. It had to be the all American Apple Pie.
It’s hard not to feel like a tradwife when baking an apple pie, individually slicing, coring, and cutting pounds of Cortland apples. Waking up early to make the crust and flattening it out before cutting out strips of dough to intricately lay latticework over the most delicious style filling. The room smelled like baked apples as the guests arrived and there were even three Brits in attendance.
These Brits told me that they had flown all the way to the Dells because they, “sensed something British was happening in Wisconsin.” Of course, they were just taking the piss and were actually there for a conference. One of them mentioned to me that apple pie “was actually British in origin.” This was a surprise, as I have always heard of Apple Pie referenced as an all American Pie. Yes, I do think all Brits speak in italics.
This comment left me wondering; how did a British pie become a symbol of American identity? “As American as apple pie” is a phrase most of us have heard at some point or another. The pie is an out of season staple on the Fourth of July, made possible by import from warmer climates. The delicious double crusted dessert is right up there with the most patriotic symbols of America. I’m talking about national treasures like baseball and Jennifer Coolidge. It was worth diving into some history to answer my question, and what I learned might change the way you see your favorite dessert.
Apple pie has long since entrenched itself in the cult of American nostalgia. By the early 20th century it was shorthand for everything wholesome and patriotic. The phrase “for mom and apple pie” was a stock answer American soldiers gave when reporters asked why they were headed into war. It was corny propaganda, sure, but it stuck. If you don’t think apple pie is worth the perils of war, then clearly you haven't tried mine. And yet, for all its patriotic muscle, this so-called national dessert was as imported as the people baking it. The more American apple pie sounded, the more curious I became about its English roots.
The apple pie appears in The Forme of Cury, a 14th-century English cookbook that also contains the first known recipe for mac and cheese. (What a banger of a cookbook.) So by the time England started sending colonists to the New World, pie-making was already old news to them. What they didn’t find, however, were the plump orchard apples they were used to. The only apples growing here were native crabapples, which were small, sour, and used by Indigenous peoples in ways that had nothing to do with lattice crusts. To recreate the pies they knew, settlers had to plant apple seeds and wait years for trees to mature. The first “American” apple pies were really an act of horticultural persistence: Europeans importing their comfort food for a taste of nostalgia.
The fact that apple pie became the all-American pie, instead of pumpkin pie, says a lot about this country. Pumpkins actually originated in the Americas, and pumpkin pie was born in New England kitchens. But it’s hard to picture baseball and pumpkin pie sharing the same breath. It’s too earthy. Apple pie, by contrast, came preloaded with centuries of Old World nostalgia. It was a better fit than other immigrant recipes, like the bone-dry Irish soda bread my ancestors dragged across the Atlantic. That was likely cooked up as a warning to never come back. Apple pie works because it mirrors the national story perfectly: imported ingredients, mixed together here, declared “American” with enough confidence and repetition. Of course our national pie is imported. So is everything else.
As with any bakeoff episode the judges needed to decide who would be named Star Baker, and who would be asked to leave the discount waterpark suite. Since I was a judge, my apple pie was not being considered for Star Baker. That title belonged to the delicious Pavlova. Instead we decided it would be funny if I got voted off, so after my loss was announced, I picked up what was left of my pie with as much camp as I could muster and vaulted for the door. As I cried hideously into my pie in the hallway, I realized that it really doesn't matter where the pie originated, what matters is that it is delicious and brings us together. In the Dells of all places.
Field Notes
To try the recipe I used you can go to Classic Apple Pie by NYTimes Cooking - I think cubing the apples to ½ inch instead of slicing them holds a better texture. I also had some issues with cornstarch globbing up, so it’s smart to make a slurry before adding. I used this video to learn to do the lattice work: How to Weave a Lattice Pie Crust. You can see a photo of my pie in last weeks newsletter How to Start a Community Garden.
You can plant your own apple trees by bare root stock in early Spring as soon as the soil is workable. You’ll need at least two different varieties and they can be spaced based on the root stock. A semi dwarf is typically 12-15 feet across. Keep the graft union 2-3” above the soil line. You’ll be growing your own pie filling in no time!
Plotter’s Commons:
What is your favorite pie? |
Community Board
My friend and reader of this newsletter Dayna Faye, who loves pumpkin pie, is offering human design readings. If you want personal guidance for what is unfolding in your life right now, then connect with her on Instagram.
Lightscape at the Chicago Botanic Garden - Holiday light shows are starting at your local botanic gardens. Many showed up during my search, so look up your local garden or arboretum’s event.
Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden - Another good example of a Winter garden event. Madison will have one at Olbrich in early December.
Written for 153 beautiful readers. 💌
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Until next Thursday,
Ken Welch
Ken Welch is a horticulturist by training and research professional at UW–Madison. He’s drawn to native ecosystems, community gardens, and helping others grow confidence in their craft.
