The 'Desperation' Pie That Replaced Fresh Fruit With Vinegar

Pie is an American classic year-round, with different fruits and flavor profiles taking center stage each season, but the holidays are an especially great time to savor tasty pies with family and friends. Perhaps you've been thinking about pie alternatives you can serve on Thanksgiving, for example, to step outside of the apple and pumpkin boxes. If you enjoy the flavor profile of a classic lemon meringue pie — sharp, bright, tart, and tangy, balanced by richness and sweetness — we've got a pie for you that happens to have a fascinating history as well. 

Vinegar pie might sound off-putting or at least overly savory, but stay with us. It calls for vinegar, sugar, flour, some water, some butter, and an egg. Whipped together, those humble ingredients create a fudgy, custardy consistency like a traditional chess pie. And the flavor profile, again, is similar to a lemon meringue or key lime pie, combining a complex punch of brightness with lush sweetness in every bite. That similarity isn't accidental either.

Vinegar pie achieves the effect of a pie made with citrus, but with a recipe for those times when it's not possible to get fresh fruit. It's considered a "desperation pie" and is often linked to the Great Depression for this reason. Vinegar pie became popular then because many people couldn't afford or access citrus fruits, but they could get a similar flavor from what they did have on hand. However, the Great Depression was not the first time vinegar pie enjoyed home-baker favor.

When we think of the many different types of pies, we think about distinguishers like how they're baked and what fruits they might feature. But there's a historically defined category of pies called "desperation pies" or "make-do" pies. Their recipes were created to enable whipping up something delicious and satisfying from whatever's left in your pantry, especially when options are lean. This was particularly relevant pre-refrigeration. Desperation pies are believed to date back to the mid-18th century, including vinegar pie — although, perhaps due to its flavor and endless potential upgrades, like adding spices, vinegar pie became a staple throughout the 19th century even when ingredients like fresh citrus were considered more readily available.

Regionally, some of vinegar pie's first written records are from places like Ohio and Pennsylvania. Through cookbooks and newspapers, it spread in the form of subtle variations (like water or no water, eggs or no eggs, and different ratios of vinegar to sugar) through the South and Midwest. While it did indeed become quite common during the Great Depression, as the 20th century unfolded, vinegar pie didn't become a household name like other desperation pies such as chess pie and shoofly pie. But it certainly deserves some love in your kitchen, where you can use whatever you have on hand to make the tangy-sweet treat.