Old Time Tips for Fruit Pies from 1832

Miss Leslie, in her book Seventy-Five Receipts, gives great tips for fruit pies still applicable today. Her book’s fourth edition (printed in 1832) has these tips:

• Stone peaches and plums by cutting in half first, not cutting around the pit. Same with cherries. (Although modern kitchens will use a cherry pitter.)
• Use the reddest and ripest of cherries in pies.
• Cut apples in thin slices. Apple pies are improved by the addition of lemon peel. Use sweet-tart apples for pies, not solely sweet apples.
• If you are stewing apples for a pie, don’t cook until they are mushy, but only until they are tender.
• Stewed or simmered fruits, such as dried cherries, dried apples, or dried cranberries, should be done so with very little liquid, and always use the mixture cool when filling pie shells to prevent a soggy or wet crust.