Maple custard pie is a custard pie from the

cuisine of New England New England cuisine is an American cuisine which originated in the New England region of the United States, and traces its roots to traditional English cuisine and Native American cuisine of the Abenaki, Narragansett, Niantic, Wabanaki, Wampa ...

. Maple custard pies are sweetened only with maple sugar. Each year in New England

maple sugar Maple sugar is a traditional sweetener in Canada and the Northeastern United States, prepared from the sap of the maple tree ("maple syrup, maple sap"). Sources Three species of maple trees in the genus ''Acer (plant), Acer'' are predomina ...

is made with the

sap Sap is a fluid transported in the xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a s ...

collected from local trees, a New England tradition dating to the 18th-century boycott of sugar imports from the West Indies. Because sugar from the West Indies was produced with slave labor, the maple pie is recognized as a symbol of New England's values of self-sufficiency and economic independence. The tradition of making maple pies continues into the present day but is not as common as it once was.

History

In anti-slavery New England William Fox and others advocated for the boycott of sugar from the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

to pressure slaveholders. Maple sugar became a substitute for cane sugar, first advanced by

Benjamin Rush Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was an American revolutionary, a Founding Father of the United States and signatory to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social refor ...

who published a tract on sugar maples in 1788, and soon after founded the Society for Promoting the Manufacture of Sugar from the Sugar Maple Tree.

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

took up the cause, vowing to use "no other sugar in his family than that which is obtained from the sugar maple tree." He obtained 50 pounds of maple sugar from writing in 1790 to Benjamin Vaughan that high quality sugar would be obtained from local maples with "no other labor than what the women and girls can bestow ... What a blessing to substitute sugar which requires only the labour of children, for that which it is said renders the slavery of the blacks necessary," but Jefferson's maple grove did not take to the Virginia climate and all the trees died. The tradition of making maple pie, although not as common as it used to be, continues to symbolize New England values of a simple lifestyle and economic independence.

Preparation

A 1939 recipe for maple cream pie is made with

and scalded milk in a double boiler. Cornstarch is added to the sweetened milk to make a thin paste which is poured over beaten eggs, then cooked all together for one minute. Butter, vanilla and salt are stirred in. The maple custard is cooled and poured into the pie shell, served topped with whipped cream. Some versions are baked in the oven.

References

{{American pies Custard desserts New England cuisine American pies Slavery in the United States Sweet pies

History

Preparation

See also

References