Celebrated annually on August 15th, National Lemon Meringue Pie Day is a holiday dedicated to a pie that we feel doesn’t ordinarily receive enough attention from pie lovers.

This pie has been around since the late 18th century, and at various points in American history, it was either an extremely popular pie or one that few people thought of making. We believe that this pie deserves a bit of respect, and that’s why we encourage everyone to celebrate the holiday dedicated to it.

The History of the Lemon Meringue Pie

We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t uncover the history of National Lemon Meringue Pie Day, so we decided to find out everything we could about the history of the lemon meringue pie. Fortunately, we were able to find out quite a lot about this pie, so we’re going to share the history of this pie right now.

The lemon meringue pie started out in Great Britain as lemon curd during the 18th century. It was Protestant Quakers who created the recipe and brought it to North America. This original lemon custard was eventually turned into a pie, but it wasn’t like the modern lemon meringue pie.

It was made with finely shredded lemons, peel and all, and it didn’t have a cream topping on it. To come closer to the modern lemon meringue pie, you have to turn to an American cook in Philadelphia known as Elizabeth Goodfellow.

Elizabeth Goodfellow ran a pastry shop, and one of her creations was a tart that had a lemon custard filling. To make that lemon custard, she had to use a lot of egg yolks but had to discard the egg whites. Seeing how wasteful that was, she decided to make a meringue out of the egg whites, and that is how the lemon meringue pie was invented in 1806.

Facts About Lemons, Pies & Lemon Meringue Pie

Want to know some facts about lemon meringue pie? If you do, then allow us to entertain you with some facts about this tasty pie.

• Lemon trees can produce up to 600 pounds of lemons per year.
• Lemons have been cultivated in the Mediterranean since the first century.
• Approximately 95% of the entire U.S. lemon crop is grown in Arizona and California.
• Sailors used lemons and limes to help prevent scurvy.
• Pies can be traced all the way back to 6,000 B.C.
• The Romans published the first pie recipe in history.
• In 12th-century England, a pie’s crust was known as a “coffyn.”

Observing National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

If you want to celebrate this day, then either make a lemon meringue pie on this day or buy one from your local grocery store. While you’re enjoying this pie with friends and family, make sure that you use the hashtag #NationalLemonMeringuePieDay on social media to let everyone else know about this holiday.