Food - Drink
How Sugar Cream Pie Became A Beloved Indiana Treat
By STEPHANIE FRIEDMAN
There is a variety of local favorites in Indiana that indicate its people appreciate simple comfort foods, like breaded pork tenderloin, sweet corn, popcorn, and mashed potatoes topped with chicken and noodles. However, sugar cream pie is one beloved sweet treat that Hoosiers are undoubtedly attached to, even claiming it as their unofficial state pie.
The pie was earlier known as "desperation pie" since people made it out of desperation when ingredients were scarce. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Shaker and Amish groups used sugar, cream, flour, and other simple ingredients to make a pie that could feed a crowd, and the earliest recorded recipe is from 1816, the same year Indiana became a state.
During World War II, sugar cream pie was easy to make with pantry ingredients and dairy, but it was in 1944 that entrepreneur Duane "Wick" Wickersham truly popularized the dessert. In 2009, the State Senate even passed the resolution to make the pie state official; however, it didn’t come to fruition, making the pie state official only in the hearts of Hoosiers.