In the nineteenth century, when larders were running low in winter or during tough times, Appalachian home cooks got creative. “They’d have homemade apple cider vinegar, cheap white sugar, eggs from their chicken, and water, and that’s enough to make a custard you can bake into a pie shell,” says Paul Edward, the chef of the recently opened supper club Sassafras on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
He was so inspired by the Appalachian staple—sometimes flavored with nutmeg, which, when mingled with apple cider vinegar, tastes a bit like lemon—that he decided to cap off his twelve-course tasting menu with the dessert.
His secret? He splashes in kombucha instead of water. He uses lemon verbena grown at a local farm and makes his own, but store-bought kombucha in any flavor works. He also makes a whole wheat pie crust using local flours, but any standard pie crust will do as well, and it can all be topped with meringue (he flames his to give it a marshmallowy, campfire feel). “It’s really quite a simple pie, and the kombucha gives it a lovely sweetness and acidity.”
