May 13: National Apple Pie Day and National Fruit Cocktail Day

National Apple Pie Day

"As American as apple pie."  Why this phrase came about is beyond me.  See, apple pies did not originate in the US, nor are apples native to North America.  Yet, apple pie has become identified as wholly American and in the 1940s the phrase "as American as apple pie" became common.  Maybe it's because it was an easy dessert for the settlers to make.  Perhaps it was because apples traveled better than other fruit and as the American West was settled, apples were the first fruits to go with the settlers and not end up smushed to all oblivion.

You can almost always find a frozen apple pie, ready for baking, at the grocery store and oftentimes the bakery will have ready-to-eat apple pies.  Apple pies are pretty easy to make - crusts, apples, sugar and spices of your choice.  This apple pie recipe from AllRecipes is incredibly popular - over 4500 reviews and it has rating of 4.8 out of 5.  Impressive.

The nice thing about apple pies is that there is no one "right" way to make them.  If you don't like the crust all that much, you can do away with the top crust and replace it with delicious crumble topping.  You can try fried apple pies when you need something easy to eat on-the-go.  Serve apple pie with ice cream or whipped cream and serve it as an always popular dessert.

Or eat it for breakfast, like I did.  Great way to start off the day.


National Fruit Cocktail Day

When people refer to fruit cocktail, they are generally referring to a collection of fruits cut up and mixed together, not the alcocholic beverage or the multi-fruit tree.  Fruit cocktail is different than fruit salad - fruit cocktail is a mix of diced fruits in natural fruit juices or syrup and fruit salad is a mixture of larger pieces of fruit, sometimes with cream added.  Did you know that in the US, the USDA regulates the mixture of fruits in fruit cocktail?  Now I understand why there's always so few cherries in a can of fruit cocktail. 


And did you know that the largest can of fruit cocktail can be found in Sunnyvale, CA?  I will have to seek it out next time I'm in Sunnyvale.