Exploring Louisiana’s Love Affair With This Pie During Thanksgiving

One of the most delicious parts of any meal is the dessert, and with Thanksgiving approaching, which pie tops the list as Louisiana's favorite? Let's explore.

Pumpkin pie is often served after the meal. It's been a tradition on Thanksgiving tables for quite some time. In Louisiana, we know how to cook and bake so many wonderful dishes.

How Did Pumpkin Pie Become Part of the Thanksgiving Meal?

Gourds like pumpkins grew very well in America. According to History.com, one of the first adaptations of pumpkin pie in America was a gourd being hallowed out, things put into it, and then it was roasted over a fire. In the early 18th century, the pumpkin pie started to gain popularity on tables in America. History.com even has one story of how one Thanksgiving had to be postponed,

In 1705, the Connecticut town of Colchester famously postponed Thanksgiving for a week because there wasn't enough molasses to make pumpkin pie! After the Civil War, pumpkin pie's popularity spread from the eastern seaboard to the rest of America.

In 1929, Libby's Canning Company was the first to put pumpkins in a can.

Over the last 100 years, pumpkin pie has become a staple of Thanksgiving tables across our country. However, in Louisiana, we love another kind of pie during the holidays. Newsweek decided to look at which dessert took the top spot across the 48 contiguous states.

Did Pumpkin Pie Top The List As Our Favorite?

Well, we will get to that soon enough, but we must spend a little bit of time with another pie. One of the other pies that is very popular across America is apple pie. Who hasn't heard the saying, when referring to America, "That's as American as mom, baseball, and apple pie?" But who knew about its ties to France?

What we consider traditionally a creation of northeastern America also originates in France.

The Shreveport Times explains,

While apple pie originated in the Northeast U.S., apple pie is also a traditional French dessert, and the French settlers in Louisiana often made their version of apple pie. French apple pie is typically made with no crust on top of the pie, instead the fruit is exposed.

 

So, Which Pie Is The Big Winner?

What do we harvest at this time of year? With tons of pecan trees throughout Louisiana and the South, you probably already know the answer to this question. Yes, we respect pumpkin pie, and we have it for holiday meals. We can always enjoy a good apple pie, but it's not number one in our hearts.

The real star of the holiday dessert table for Louisianians, according to Newsweek, and your MawMaw and 'dem, is the pecan pie! Yummy! If you look around at articles about when the pecan pie was invented, everyone wants to claim they were the first state to start making pecan pies, but I truly believe it started in Louisiana as the Native Americans introduced the pecan to settlers in Louisiana.

One thing we do know is that pecan pie is AMAZING! Plenty of recipes still call for Karo Syrup, but there are so many variations of pecan now with things like Steen's syrup, boudin, and bourbon!