better homes and gardens peach pie

Golden Peach Pie (Better Homes & Gardens "Pies and Cakes" 1966)

I was able to buy a couple pounds of peach "seconds" at the farmers' market the other day for dirt cheap. I simply told the farmer that I wanted peaches for a pie and that I didn't care what they looked like. If you are going to cut or mash up your fruit or vegetable, I encourage you to ask for "seconds." Seconds are the produce that may be bruised in one spot or very ripe or may not be as pretty looking as the rest of the fruit. They are still as nutritious and an easy way to get a lot of produce inexpensively.

Today I was looking through the cookbooks to find a basic peach pie recipe. I had the general idea: place peach slices in 9″ pastry-lined pan. But I wasn't sure of the quantity needed and how much sugar to use. I came upon an interesting contrast between my 1941 Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and my 1966 Better Homes and Gardens Pies and Cakes cookbook. See if you can spot the difference!

1941 Ingredient List:

2 cups sliced fresh peaches

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons butter

Dash of salt

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 9-inch pastry shell

1966 Ingredient List (pie pictured above):

2 1-pound cans sliced peaches

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon nutmet

Dash salt

2 Tablespoons butter or margerine

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Pastry for 9-inch lattice-top pie

All of the peach pie recipes in the 1966 cookbook list canned peaches instead of fresh peaches in their ingredient list. Other fruit pie recipes follow the same pattern. Within a time-frame of 25 years, Better Homes and Gardens went from using fresh fruit fillings in their recipes to using store-bought canned fillings. Mrs. Smith introduced her frozen pies in 1950. I suppose by 1966, people used to eating frozen pies would not know how a fresh peach pie was supposed to taste so BH & G could get away with using premade pie fillings in their recipes.

As for me, I can always tell when a canned fruit filling has been used. It always leaves behind some weird coating on the roof of my mouth. How about you? Can you tell the difference?

Click here to find the recipe and directions for the 1941 version of the peach pie.

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