Pumpion Pie (1658 & 1670) — The Earliest English Pumpkin Pie from The Compleat Cook and The Queen-Like Closet

England’s earliest spiced pumpkin pies: 1658 & 1670 English “pumpion” pies layered with apples or scented with sack and rosewater—two period versions, two modern bakes.

Pumpion Pie (1658 & 1670) — The Compleat Cook & The Queen-Like Closet

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Part of the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series — Early modern English cooks balanced spice, fruit, and rich sauces to delight feast guests. In that spirit, we imagine how 17th-century dishes—roasts, puddings, and pies—might grace today’s Thanksgiving table with historical flavor and good cheer.

A Pie of Pumpion and Apple — England’s First Pumpkin Pies

By the mid-1600s, New World “pumpions” (pumpkins) found a home in English kitchens. Two of the earliest printed examples—The Compleat Cook (1658) and Hannah Woolley’s The Queen-Like Closet (1670)—reveal different approaches: one layers herbed pumpkin fritters with sliced apples and currants, finished with a wine-egg caudle; the other stews and mashes the pumpkin, perfumes it with rosewater and sack, and glazes it with a sweet caudle. Together, they prefigure the later Anglo-American pumpkin custard pie while retaining a distinctly Restoration palate.

Historical Context: The Journey of the Pumpkin

From the New World to the Old: Pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo) are among the oldest cultivated crops in the Americas, domesticated in Mexico around 7000–5500 BCE. By the 15th century they were a staple from South America to New England. Spanish and Portuguese explorers carried seeds home in the early 1500s, where the “Indian gourd” quickly took root in Iberian and Italian gardens.

Arrival in England: The word pompion (later spelled pumpion or pumpkin) entered English by 1548, from French pompon and ultimately Latin peponem, “melon.” William Turner’s Herbal (1551–68) lists the pompion among familiar garden plants, and John Gerard’s Herbal (1597) describes “the great round pompion,” judging it “cold and moist in the second degree.” English cooks viewed it as a vegetable requiring the balancing warmth of spice, wine, and butter.

Early English Recipes: By the mid-1600s, the pumpkin had moved from curiosity to kitchen. The herbed, apple-layered pie in The Compleat Cook (1658) and Hannah Woolley’s sweeter rosewater version in The Queen-Like Closet (1670) mark its first recorded uses in English cookery. Both reflect a transitional taste—part vegetable fritter, part custard pie—infused with the season’s abundance of spice.

Across the Atlantic Again: English colonists in New England found pumpkins thriving in Indigenous fields and adopted them eagerly. By the late 17th century, colonial cooks abandoned herbs and apples for smooth spiced custards, giving rise to the pumpkin pie of early American tradition, immortalized in Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery (1796).

Date	Event	Location
~7000 BCE	Pumpkins domesticated	Mesoamerica
Early 1500s	Introduced to Europe by Spanish explorers	Iberia
1536	Described in Mattioli’s Commentarii	Italy
1548	First English record of “pompion”	England
1597	Gerard’s Herbal notes “great round pompion”	England
1658	The Compleat Cook publishes “Pumpion Pie”	London
1670	Hannah Woolley’s Queen-Like Closet	London
1796	Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery	United States

Humoral Insight: Early modern physicians classified pumpkins as “cold and moist.” Period cooks corrected this by adding warming ingredients—spice, sugar, and eggs—making dishes like pumpion pie both healthful and seasonally balanced.

Glossary: Pompion — early English spelling of pumpkin; Caudle — a warm sauce of egg yolk and wine; Verjuice — acidic juice from unripe grapes used for tartness.

Original Recipes

A. The Compleat Cook (1658)

To make a Pumpion Pie.
Take about halfe a pound of Pumpion and slice it, a handfull of Tyme, a little Rosemary, Parsley and sweet Marjoram slipped off the stalks, and chop them small, then take Cinamon, Nutmeg, Pepper, and six Cloves, and beat them; take ten Eggs and beat them, then mix them, and beat them altogether, and put in as much Sugar as you think fit, then fry them like a froiz; after it is fryed, let it stand till it be cold, then fill your Pye, take sliced Apples thinne round wayes, and lay a row of the Froiz, and a layer of Apples with Currans betwixt the layers while your Pye is fitted, and put in a good deal of sweet Butter before you close it; when the Pye is baked, take six yolks of Eggs, some white Wine or Verjuice, and make a Caudle thereof, cut up the Lid, and pour it in, then sugar it, and serve it up.

B. Hannah Woolley, The Queen-Like Closet (1670)

To make a Pumpion Pye.
Take the Pumpion, and pare it, and slice it thin, and stew it till it be tender, then mash it and season it with beaten Spice, Sugar, and Rosewater, and lay it in your Pye, and put in good store of Butter, and when it is baked, pour in a Caudle made of Eggs, Sack, and Sugar, and serve it hot.

Period Technique: A caudle is a lightly thickened sauce of wine (or sack) and egg yolks, poured into a hot pie to glaze and enrich it just before serving.

Choose Your Pie: The 1658 version is savory-sweet with herbs, apples, and currants; the 1670 version is silkier and perfumed with rosewater and sack. Both are unmistakably 17th-century.

Modern Redactions (Two Ways)

A. 1658 — Spiced Pumpkin, Apple & Herb Pie (with Caudle)

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450 g) pumpkin or butternut, peeled and sliced thin
• 1 tbsp butter (for frying)
• 2 tbsp sugar (or to taste)
• ½ tsp cinnamon • ¼ tsp nutmeg • pinch clove or allspice
• Leaves from 2 sprigs thyme • 1 tsp chopped rosemary or sweet marjoram
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 tart apples, sliced thin
• ¼ cup currants or raisins
• 1 tbsp melted butter (for layering)
• Pastry for a 9-inch double-crust pie

Caudle: 2 egg yolks • ¼ cup white wine or verjuice • 1 tbsp sugar

Method

1. Make the froiz. Fry pumpkin in butter until soft; mash lightly. Stir in herbs, spices, sugar, and beaten eggs.
2. Layer. Line the pie dish; alternate layers of pumpkin mixture, apple slices, and currants, drizzling melted butter between layers.
3. Bake. Top with the crust; seal and vent. Bake at 375 °F (190 °C) for 40–45 minutes until golden.
4. Finish with caudle. Warm yolks, wine/verjuice, and sugar until slightly thickened. Pour into the hot pie through the vent; sprinkle with sugar and serve warm.

Tip: Verjuice can be approximated with equal parts white wine and unsweetened apple juice, sharpened with a few drops of lemon.

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B. 1670 — Sweet Pumpkin Custard Pie with Sack & Rosewater (with Caudle)

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450 g) pumpkin or winter squash, peeled and sliced
• 2–3 tbsp sugar (to taste)
• ½ tsp cinnamon • ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp rosewater (optional but period)
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• Pastry for a 9-inch single-crust pie

Caudle: 2 egg yolks • ¼ cup sack (sweet sherry) • 1 tbsp sugar

Method

1. Stew & mash. Simmer pumpkin in a little water or butter until tender; drain and mash smooth.
2. Season. Stir in sugar, spices, rosewater, eggs, and melted butter.
3. Bake. Pour into the shell; bake at 350 °F (175 °C) for ~40 minutes until set.
4. Finish with caudle. Warm yolks, sack, and sugar to a light nappe; pour over the hot pie and serve.

Ingredient Note: “Sack” is a sweet fortified wine akin to modern sherry; use a cream or medium-sweet style for a period-accurate finish.

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C. Combined Modern Interpretation — “Restoration Harvest Pie”

This version blends the savory balance of the 1658 recipe with the gentle sweetness and perfume of 1670. The result is a rich, spiced pumpkin-apple pie worthy of any early-modern or modern feast.

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450 g) pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 2 tart apples, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp butter (1 for frying, 1 for layering)
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 tbsp sugar (or to taste)
• ½ tsp cinnamon • ¼ tsp nutmeg • pinch clove
• Leaves from 1 sprig thyme • ½ tsp chopped rosemary or sweet marjoram
• 1 tsp rosewater (optional, for aroma)
• 2 tbsp currants or raisins
• 1 tbsp sack (sweet sherry) or white wine
• Pastry for a 9-inch double-crust pie

Caudle (optional finish): 2 egg yolks • ¼ cup sack or white wine • 1 tbsp sugar

Method

1. Cook the pumpkin. Simmer or roast until tender; mash lightly.
2. Season. Stir in butter, herbs, spices, sugar, rosewater, sack, and beaten eggs.
3. Assemble. In a pastry-lined dish, layer the pumpkin mixture with sliced apples and currants, brushing melted butter between layers.
4. Bake. Cover with the top crust, vent, and bake at 375 °F (190 °C) for 40–45 minutes until golden.
5. Finish (optional). Warm yolks, wine, and sugar into a thin caudle; pour through the vent to glaze before serving.

Taste Profile: Fragrant with sack and rosewater, this hybrid balances the earthy pumpkin, bright apple, and warming spice — bridging Old-World herbs with New-World fruit.

🥕 Dietary & Adaptation Notes

• Vegetarian (eggs/dairy). For dairy-free, use plant butter; for alcohol-free, substitute white grape or apple juice for wine/sack.
• Gluten-free: use a GF crust.
• Vegan: replace each egg with 1 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp coconut cream; thicken “caudle” gently without curdling.

Part of the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series
Exploring how early modern English recipes—roasts, puddings, sauces, and “made dishes” from Robert May and his contemporaries—might inspire today’s holiday table.

h2>Series Index – All Posts in the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series

• Robert May’s Roast Turkey (1660) – Basting, Sauces, and Serving
• Barberry Sauce for Roast Meats (1660) – A Tudor & Stuart Alternative to Cranberries
• Green Pudding of Sweet Herbs – A Tudor Pudding for the Roasting Pan
• Soops and Mashed Potatoes – How a Tudor Luxury Became a Holiday Staple
• Sweet Potatoes Three Ways (1660–1670) – May & Woolley at the Table
• Butter’d French Beans (1660) – Robert May’s Table Greens
• A Grand 17th-Century Sallet of Roast Meats and Pickled Things
• Tudor Appetizers: Entrées de Table from The Accomplisht Cook
• Pumpion Pie (1658 & 1670) – The First English Pumpkin Pie

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Sources & Further Reading

• The Compleat Cook (1658)
• Hannah Woolley, The Queen-Like Closet (1670)
• Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (1660)
• Sara Pennell, The Birth of the English Kitchen, 1600–1850 (Bloomsbury, 2016)
• Project Gutenberg & EEBO facsimiles

Part of the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series — Exploring how early modern English recipes—roasts, puddings, and sauces from Robert May and his contemporaries—might inspire today’s holiday table.

AI Assistance Disclosure: Historical transcription, formatting, and redaction support were provided with the help of AI tools for research and editing. Some images were created or edited with AI tools. All historical interpretation and final text are curated and verified by the editor of Give It Forth.