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Meringue Was Perfected In The 17th Century. Lemon Meringue Pie, Was Developed In The 19th Century.

Updated March 16, 2024

Pie lovers and lemon lovers from across the country get your forks ready. August 15th is National Lemon Meringue Pie Day!

Served as a dessert, lemon meringue pie is a baked pie usually made with a crust of shortbread pastry, lemon curd filling, and a fluffy meringue topping.

Meringue was perfected in the 17th century, and lemon meringue pie, as we know it today, was developed in the 19th century.

  • 1st Century AD – Food historians say lemons have been in cultivation around the Mediterranean from as early as the first century A.D.
  • 500s -1500s – Lemon is used in desserts such as pies, puddings, and custards.
  • 1692 – a 1692 French cookbook lists the meringue recipe under that name.
  • 1700s – The Quakers generally receive credit for inventing lemon custard in the late 1700s.
  • 1700 – The idea of spreading meringue on top of desserts is introduced in France.
  • 1706 – When a French cookbook was published in English in 1706, the word entered English.
  • 1739 – The renowned French author publishes a cookbook with the recipe for a meringue-covered dessert.
  • 1796 – Amelia Simmons wrote the first American cookbook, called American Cookery, in 1796. It included recipes for pumpkin and apple pies.
  • 1859 – Mrs. Cornelius’ 1859 pastry recipe published in The Young Housekeeper’s Friend had just 3 ingredients, 3 pounds of flour, half a pound of lard and a pound of butter.
  • 1869 – Lemon Meringue Pie appears in Cookbooks.  Recipes for lemon meringue pie are found in various cookbooks titled “Lemon Cream Pie.”
  • Lemon trees bloom and produce fruit year-round. Each tree can produce between 500 and 600 pounds of lemons in a year.
  • Add the juice of one lemon to an equal amount of hot water for an anti-bacterial gargle.
  • Lemons have high acidic content making them effective cleaning aids.
  • High in vitamin C, lemons prevent scurvy, a disease that causes bleeding gums, loose teeth, and aching joints. To this day, the British Navy requires ships to carry enough lemons so that every sailor can have one ounce of juice a day.
  • California and Arizona produce 95% of the entire U.S. lemon crop.
  • According to the American Pie Council, Americans buy more than 186 million pies at the grocery store each year. That is enough to stretch around the globe and beyond. 7% of American have also tried to pass off store bought pie as homemade.
  • 1 in 5 Americans surveyed by the American Pie Council have eaten an entire pie by themselves.
  • One third of American have eaten a slice of pie in bed.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Days of the Year

Foodimentary

Mobile-Cuisine

Heavy

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