Neutral lens. All positions documented.
Pie gets me out of bed.
The styles, the arguments, the championships and the people of American pie. Documented with care, taking no sides, and every fact linked to where it came from.
Entry list
Everything on pie, one table.
Ten sections, each counted from the records it holds and each entry sourced. How the archive began.
- No. 2 · Entry list
- 1Regional styles10 entries
Key lime to shoofly, sugar cream to sweet potato
- 2The arguments8 entries
Lard, meringue, Boston cream, the color of key lime
- 3Champions17 entries
Best of Show at the National Pie Championships
- 4Fruits19 entries
Northern Spy, Montmorency, marionberry and the rest of the filling
- 5Recipes10 entries
One canonical recipe per style
- 6Technique8 entries
Dough, lattice, blind baking and the custard wobble
- 7Glossary63 entries
From coffin to à la mode
- 8Not pie8 entries
Galettes, cobblers, pasties and other relations
- 9The calendar18 entries
Fairs, festivals, Pi Day and the nationals
- 10Your probabilityTry it
How close is a good pie?
The map
Ten styles, drawn by state.
- Key Lime Pie
Key lime juice, condensed milk, egg yolks.
- Shoofly Pie
Molasses below, crumbs above, coffee alongside.
- Sugar Cream Pie
Sugar, cream, a little flour, nutmeg.
- Chess Pie
Butter, sugar and eggs in a crust.
- Tart Cherry Pie
Tart Montmorency cherries under a top crust.
- Marionberry Pie
Oregon’s own blackberry under a top crust.
- Pecan Pie
Pecans set in sweet syrup and eggs.
- New England Apple Pie
Sliced tart apples between two crusts.
- Pumpkin Pie
Spiced pumpkin custard in an open crust.
- Sweet Potato Pie
Mashed sweet potato custard in an open shell.
The question
Lard, butter or shortening in the crust?
Argument heat
American pie crust was built on lard and butter for most of its history. A hydrogenated vegetable fat sold from 1911 changed the default in many kitchens, and the published food science still does not crown a single winner. Extension services, test kitchens and the shortening’s own maker each rank the three fats differently.
Hover the contested words to hear from the lens you’ve picked: lardDisputed. See the record., butterDisputed., shorteningDisputed., cheddarNew England and Midwest practice..
Read every side →Champions
Best of Show, National Pie Championships.
2019
Rhonda HullLittle Rock, AR
Rhonda Hull of Little Rock, Arkansas, won amateur Best of Show in 2019, from 185 entries, with Denali Caribou Crunch Pie from the new My Favorite Vacation category, as the APC’s 2019 results table prints it; the APC’s press release heads the category “Best Vacation Pie.” The APC’s 2019 table credits her with seven amateur first places that year, including Blueberry, Cherry, Cream, Cream Cheese, Pumpkin and the Dobla Summer Orange Creamsicle category.
2019
David EaheartKansas City, MO
David Eaheart of Kansas City, Missouri, won professional Best of Show in 2019, from 145 entries, with Iceland’s Café Loki-Inspired Rye Bread Cream Pie, entered in the new My Favorite Vacation category, as the APC’s 2019 results table prints it; the APC’s press release heads the category “Best Vacation Pie.” Seaboard Foods lists earlier placings: first in the professional 6-inch Chicken Pot Pie category in 2017 and second in 2018. He placed first in Florida Beef Council Savory Beef in 2024 and in Savory in 2025.
2018
Jennifer NystromClarksville, OH
Jennifer Nystrom of Clarksville, Ohio, won amateur Best of Show in 2018, out of 185 pies, with Chocolate Caramel Turtle Sundae Pie, first in the Guittard Chocolate Cream category. Snack and Bakery reported she had competed for nine years and entered seven pies that year, earning four ribbons.
2018
Katheryn HansonOrlando, FL
Katheryn Hanson of Orlando, Florida, won professional Best of Show in 2018, out of 107 pies, with I Love a Great Love Pie, first in the Royal Wedding category, which the APC had also offered in 2011. Snack and Bakery, which calls her Chef Kathy Hanson, reported she had competed since 2007, first as an amateur, and placed first four times in 2018 in addition to Best of Show. The APC’s archived 2018 results list three of her first places: Hollywood Movies, Pumpkin and Royal Wedding. In 2019 she took five second-place ribbons.
The ledger holds 397 sourced first places across 22 championship years with published results. Open the ledger.
In the record
Pie Town, New Mexico, 1940.
A settlement on U.S. 60 west of Socorro, named for pies sold to travelers in the 1920s. Russell Lee photographed its homesteaders for the Farm Security Administration in 1940, and its fair that October.
Pie Town in the glossary →On the calendar
Where the pies are judged.
- November 7, 202653rd Vardaman Sweet Potato FestivalVardaman, MS
- November 26, 2026Thanksgiving DayNationwide
- January 23, 2027National Pie DayNationwide
- March 14, 2027Pi DayNationwide
Oral histories
The archive is collecting testimony.
Recorded interviews with competition bakers, fair judges, bakery families and pie-supper regulars, for the permanent record.
Give testimony →