We live in the South and my grandmother used to make it with a crust. I had her recipe at one time, but don't now. I think (not positive) it was a pie born out of the depression era when people had to use whatever they had. I doubt if it is any older than that unless it came in the south during the Civil War. Good luck at finding out for sure.

Beverly

I had never heard of Vinegar Pie so this was an interesting search! Here is one explanation I found - and the rest of the site is pretty interesting too

I will be watching this thread to see what others have to say.

Alexa

"This search is for my friend and third grade teacher, Wava, who will soon celebrate her 90th birthday. She remembers her mother making Vinegar Pie when she was a small girl and WavaâÂÂs grandmother made Vinegar Pie as a Kansas Pioneer, while living in a sod house in Western Kansas.

Vinegar Pie was a pie that pioneers made in the winter when the dried fruits had been depleted. IâÂÂve included two Vinegar Pie recipes. The second Vinegar Pie recipe is very basic (the instructions are a bit vague) and probably more like what the pioneers made when supplies were low. The pie is suppose to have a rather fruity flavor. Click here to check out these Vinegar Pie recipes."

Here is a link that might be useful: Old Recipe Detective

Nice link Alexa. Thank you

I just took the pie out the oven after the recommended cooking time. It's a bit like a custard - loose in the middle. I hope it sets up.

My mother used to make vinegar pie with crust.

I have the recipe from her church recipe book from the early 50's

I was just going through some old recipes (both handwritten and newspaper clippings) someone collected from around 1895 to 1920 and most of the pie recipes don't mention crust. Maybe it's just a given?

(After all, they don't even tell you to COOK anything...)

A pie had a crust...always....so they just assumed you would put it into a crust.
Sometimes a vinegar pie was cooked on the stove top and then put into the crust.
Old timers had different vinegar than we did...more cider-ey...and home made...like some of the organic vinegars you can buy now. They believed there were lots of healing properties to vinegar, and liked the flavor.
In the summer a fairly common drink among farmers was switchel.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: switchel

Imagine long Winters, months with no fruit but what you dried or 'put up' when it was in season once the carefully stored, late season apples were gone. No fresh vegetables either. If the last year's harvest was scanty, due to bad weather or other troubles, there mightn't even be much in the way of dried or 'put up' relief from a diet primarily made up of meat and starch.

Something sweet, and with a bit of a tang to it would be mighty attractive.

Ok, I did put it in a crust. I didn't have a frozen pie crust on hand, didn't feel like making one from scratch so made it with a graham cracker easy-peasy crust.

It was a complete hit or miss. Some people liked, others did not. It could have cooked a little longer till completely set up. Not that I think I would ever make it again but it's good to know.

Switchell, now that was an interesting article :)

i just tasted my first vinegar pie and i have to admit that its a highly variable thing. i made mine with 3 tbs of cider vinegar, but then heard that white was better. i think that the cider type might be an acquired taste. but i would definately say that a graham cracker crust would be awful with it... i never heard of impossible vinegar pie (crustless) either...,