I’m wondering, what’s the best way to store a cooked pie so it doesn’t go bad before it’s eaten?

TTFN
Travis

That’s easy - Bake it fresh and eat it quickly!

I just refrigerate, and serve as required, forcing, I mean offering, servings to anyone who happens near.

I tend to bake stuff I know we can manage to finish within a week.

Then again, I’m the sort that eats pie for breakfast and considers it a treat.

If I knew things would move more slowly than that, I think I’d make tarts or turnovers, and freeze them, to heat and serve as needed.  That’s an easy way to have pie for one at a moment’s notice.

I follow the storage recommendations on the Pie and Pastry Bible, it is well explained.

The issues are to prevent the crust form becoming soggy,  to keep the fillings in good consistency and condition, and of course any whipped cream topping or cream filling.

It really varies, some fruits can stay out longer than others, and it is almost advisable to not refrigerate you pies because the crust can become soggy.

In many cases, the amount of sugar on the fruit works as a preservative to prevent the fruit to spoil for about 1 week.

My mango passion tart was kept refrigerated, but eaten within 3 days.  Everything stayed crispy and fresh.

The perfect pecan pie (not fruit really) stays fresh for 1 week to 10 days in cooler weather, stored at room temperature.

When I make the perfect flay pie crust ahead of time, I refrigerate it air vacuum for weeks or months.  I only fill them with fruit when ready to eat, and filled stays fresh/crisp for 1 more day refrigerated and filled with fresh fruits.  But if filled with cooked fruit in sugar, it is best to leave it at room temperature.

Good luck, pie season!

Pie for breakfast is the #1 way around here…

Patrincia - 15 November 2007 08:30 PM

That’s easy - Bake it fresh and eat it quickly!

Patrincia - 15 November 2007 08:30 PM

That’s easy - Bake it fresh and eat it quickly!

I agree with this.  Most fruit pies are at their optimum on the day they were baked.

There’s also the option of freezing unbaked pies and then baking them.

My husband just loves fruit pies, so they don’t last very long in our house, even though there are only the two of us. I was the one who introduced him to the “pie for breakfast” concept. He took to it immediately, of course.

We generally store plain fruit pies at room temperature. The crust gets soggy faster if you keep it in the refrigerator, and the acid & sugar in the fruit means it doesn’t spoil all that fast. You can press a little plastic wrap over the fruit portion to keep it from drying out. It’s probably better if you don’t cover the crust, but we find we have to cover it loosely. Our cats have discovered that pie crust tastes nicely of butter, and they sometimes nibble on it.

Of course, if it’s a custard-type pie (like pumpkin), or has meringue, it would have to go in the refrigerator.

Isn’t that a bummer?  Most fruit pies don’t last long!

Whenever I want to taste the bounty of the harvest all year long, instead of trying to keep the “pie” fresh, I keep the “pie components” fresh, separately frozen.

I prepare the fruits (slice, concentrate, etc) and freeze.  I prepare the crusts, and freeze unbaked or baked.

When it comes to eat the “pie,” I turn the frozen fruit into a cold filling (add a glaze with gelatin or creme anglaise) and fill my pie crust, let set, and serve.  For fruits that handle better when cooked (like apples), I cook them with a starchy filling.

This weekend, I will blind bake a tart pan with flaky cream cheese crust.  I have the dough already made and frozen from months ago; it is slow thawing today, so it should be a snap of a job to roll it and bake it.  Then I will moisture proof it with chocolate.  I have some frozen mango slices (sliced for a mango rose), so that will go on top.  Pie should stay fresh in the fridge for a few days and I love the texture of soft mango.  At time of eating, I will drizzle generous amounts of creme anglaise on each plate.  Get to enjoy mango, off season.