My aunt's old apple pie recipe had a secret ingredient I found in her kitchen drawer

I was helping her bake for Thanksgiving in her Michigan kitchen, and I saw her pull a small jar of apple cider vinegar from a drawer, not the pantry. She added a single teaspoon to the filling, saying her mom did it to keep the apples from browning. I always just used lemon juice. The pie came out tasting brighter, not sour at all. Has anyone else's family used a weird little trick like that in a classic recipe?

3 comments

3 Comments

amymiller1mo ago

Honestly my family's secret trick was just using way too much cinnamon in everything. My mom's apple pie recipe might as well be called cinnamon soup with some apples in it. Tbh I didn't even know other spices existed until I moved out. It tasted fine but I'm pretty sure it just covered up the fact she used those sad, mealy apples from our tree.

lisa_brown1mo ago

Read somewhere that a tiny bit of vinegar can actually make the apple flavor pop without tasting tangy. My grandma used to put a pinch of black pepper in her peach cobbler, said it brought out the sweetness. Always thought that was so strange until I tried it. Those old kitchen tricks are kind of cool when they actually work.

lucas6310d ago

Wait, black pepper in peach cobbler? That's not strange, that's just your grandma secretly being a mad scientist. My grandma's big trick was putting a single drop of vanilla extract in everything, including scrambled eggs, which I have to say did not improve the eggs. But the vinegar thing makes sense, actually. Acids do that weird magic where they wake up flavors without making things sour, kind of like how a pinch of salt in coffee makes it taste smoother instead of salty. Grandma wisdom is basically just chemistry with a side of stubbornness, and I respect it.