A variation on schnitz pie developed in the Big Valley area of Pennsylvania, where an Amish settlement began in 1790. The Amish, who live west and south of Lewistown in the central part of the state, fashioned a schnitz pie that travels well—in the hand or in lunch boxes! Its name is descriptive of how the finished delicacy looks.

Sticking around an out-building on most Amish farms is a stand of rhubarb that puts in an appearance every spring. Its sweetened tartness makes it a favorite in the Amish diet. Rhubarb is one more example of these people’s pleasure in a zesty flavor that offsets another rich food, or whose own “bite” is only partly masked by the addition of sugar. Rhubarb must be beloved in part because it is one of the first greens to flourish after a long winter without fresh food.

Sweetened sour cherries have a pungent tartness that makes them a favorite for pies. Cherry trees grow both wild and domestically in eastern Pennsylvania, so their natural presence has made their fruit an easily available dessert or main dish for a snack-meal. Since cherries retain their delectable qualities even when canned, cherry pies are prepared year-round.

“We had our own apples so we ate a lot of apple pie.” It is a common theme when one probes the subject of the kinds of pies most often baked in Amish kitchens. Another woman in her mid-30s explains, “We ate a lot of apple pies; Mom made them with a top crust. For a full meal we would eat apple pie with potatoes alongside that were covered with brown butter. We’d eat it on a flat plate with a little bit of milk on the apple pie.”

Almost a vegetable dish, this soft filling was likely invented by a cook who wanted to use up leftover mashed potatoes and stale bread. The final consistency of this traditional food is pudding-like.