I caught the last few minutes of a show called “fox Football Daily” I believe. It had the talking heads from Fox on it at least (Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson, someone else), and they mentioned something about popular Desserts for US Thanksgiving, one of which was Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. They all became outraged at the thought of this pie, and all of them said they had not even tried this pie or even heard of it, some actually saying they were angry about its inclusion.
So my question is about this delicious pie, the best pie out there…is it unavailable/unheard of in vast swaths of the US? If so what parts? The south?
I’m from the Midwest (Chicago), and I grew up with a neighbor growing both strawberry and rhubarb and making her pies. They were awesome. Or even just plain rhubarb pie.
But for Thanksgiving? That’s weird. November is way past the season for both. Not that shopping need be seasonal anymore, but I don’t even see rhubarb in my grocery stores most of the year–only the late spring into maybe mid-summer.
They were outraged about its inclusion in what I believe was a “most popular Thanksgiving Dessert List”, but all 4 guys said they had NEVER tried it, nor heard of it. Thanksgiving or not, that just sounded crazy to me.
I can understand (if not necessarily agree with) getting outraged by the lack of a particular food at Thanksgiving, but how can one be outraged by its inclusion? Surprise, sure, if it’s something your family doesn’t associate with the season, or maybe puzzlement, if it’s a food you haven’t heard of before… but outrage?
Anyway, my family’s from western PA, and strawberry rhubarb pie is certainly familiar to us. Our Thanksgiving tradition with respect to pies, meanwhile, is “as many as possible, of as many varieties as possible”, so if one were able to get the makings for strawberry rhubarb pie in November, it would fit right in.
It’s on the menu year-round in the upper Midwest. Both strawberries and rhubarb freeze very well, so there’s no need to depend on supermarkets. I don’t know that it’s any more prevalent during Thanksgiving and wouldn’t consider it a traditional holiday dessert.
I think I was in my late teens or early 20s the first time I ever heard of strawberry rhubarb pie and had a piece. It was an excellent pie and it is always welcome at my table.
I don’t make a lot of pies, but when I do, it’s usually with in-season ingredients. It’s not always so much the availability of good ingredients (although with strawberries, I think it’s tantamount), but I also associate certain foods with certain times of year. I have never seen strawberry-rhubarb pie at Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie? Yes. Rhubarb pie? No. And even though I make pumpkin pie from a can most of the time, I don’t eat that in the spring, either. I just don’t have those associations with those foods.
The first and only time I’ve ever seen (and eaten a slice of) a strawberry rhubarb pie was 15 years ago when I was in my mid-20s. I had never heard of it before then. It was made by my friend’s wife, who was from Kansas. It was delicious.
I’m from Texas.
Doubtless God could have made a better berry (than the strawberry), but doubtless God never did
William Allen Butler
That said, I don’t believe the flavor of the strawberry is improved by anything beyond washing it. On the contrary. Also, its inclusion in rhubarb pie is only as a prophylactic for those whose palates are too timid to enjoy the sharp tartness of rhubarb alone. I thank the blackbird who ate all the strawberries in my mother’s garden while leaving the rhubarb unmolested.
I love strawberry rhubarb and just plain ole rhubarb pie. But I do not think of it as a Thanksgiving pie.
Thanksgiving pies are pumpkin and Apple and pecan, beside the main ingredient is “in season” in the fall.
I remember a Thanksgiving when I wa younger and my mother hosted a bunch of “Thanksgiving” orphans. Just some people who couldn’t quite get home to their real family. One guest was an older lady, the mother of one of her bridge partners.
Mom was so proud of her Thanksgiving pies: Pumpkin, Apple, and Pecan, plus a mincemeat.
The lady wanted a Lemon Meringue pie because that was her favorite.
I never heard of it until I was college age, circa 2000. Now that I’ve tried it, I’ll never have either strawberries of rhubarb in a pie without the other also.
Having said that, it is definitely a spring pie, not a Thanksgiving one.