In Ken Haedrich’s Pie: 300 Tried-And-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie, he guesses that the name “Fruits of the Forest Pie” originally applied to a mixed-nut pie, since nuts do actually come from the forest. At some point the name inspired mixed fruit pies, too.
Since I’m allergic to tree nuts, the idea of a mixed nut pie is frightening: I can just handle making, say, a pecan pie for my dad, or a hazelnut pie for Ryan, but multiple types of nuts at once? What if while I’m watching one type of nut, the other two flank me, like in Jurassic Park? Mixed fruit pie doesn’t inspire these delusional ramblings, so that’s what I’ve made:
Fruits of the Forest Pie with coarse sugar glaze
The crust is, as usual, from the family recipe, while the glaze and filling are Haedrich-approved. The filling includes apple, pear, peaches, blueberries, strawberries and pineapple. Won’t find all those in any forest near you.
Comments
fruits of the forest?
Only half of those fruits come from trees. Are they surrounded? BTW, do you use fresh pineapple in this or canned?
Re: fruits of the forest?
Yes, pretty nonsensical, isn’t it!? I used canned. It was either/or, and to be honest, I try to minimize my exposure to pineapple, especially in its fully armed state :P It’s only a half-cup.
PIE!
You inspired me to share my recipe for tomato pie on my blog. Thank you!
Hmmm...
I’m behind that pie, except for the pineapple. I’ve had fruit of the forest pies that were just apple and blackberry. That seems indicative of Northwest forests, anyway. I’ve never had a fruit of the forest pie with nuts – that’s just crazy!
Nut pies are overrated anyway. I grew up in the south where every pie was a cream pie or some kind of nut pie. And that is why I love fruit-only pies so much.
Re: Hmmm... and PIE!
I’ve never had a nut pie. Came close when I foolishly decided to sniff the Oregon Caramel Coffee Hazelnut (never tried to eat hazelnuts at a formative age, got a few days of munching in before the immune system noticed the Nut Sign flashing — thus, hazelnuts smell like Food, not Poison). I don’t think nut Fruits of the Forest sounds crazy — it makes SENSE!
I don’t like pineapple much myself (I think it is the natural enemy of humankind!) but it was well mixed with the other flavors so it was fine.
Jan — I’ll be sure to read it! I’ve heard of tomato pies but never had one or even learned where they fall on the sweet-savory spectrum.