When you go somewhere, you are going to have a lot of foods that are very popular in that area or are from that area. You might wander around the area and hear these foods being talked about frequently. It might even become often enough that you are curious about the flavor of the dishes. One area of foods I know very well is Pennsylvania Dutch foods! Here, I’m going to list a couple foods that I definitely think you need to try if you ever visit Pennsylvania.
1. Shoo-Fly Pie
This isn’t really a pie as it is more of a cake disguised as a pie. However, it’s made with molasses. Molasses is sweet but tart at the same time. As for the name? I haven’t a clue why it has that name, but someone probably shooed the flies away from the sweet pie and it just stuck. This is my mom’s favorite, but make sure you get wet bottom shoo-fly pie. It’s exponentially better with the wet bottom than it is without.
2. Chicken and Waffles
This one is simple. This is just shredded chicken on top of a fluffy waffle. It is usually topped with gravy, but if you are like me, you can try to opt out of gravy. No gravy means there isn’t a soggy, mushy waffle left for you to eat.
3. Birch Beer
This tasty drink is non-alcoholic, so don’t worry one bit. Just try it. Several places over the state make it and they all might just taste different. I love birch beer made from A-Treat.
4. Apple Dumpling
This is often a peeled and cored whole apple, which is covered in pastry/pie crust and baked. It’s often sometimes meant as a dessert, but it can serve as its own meal and is usually served with either ice cream or in milk. Apple dumplings made by the Amish are usually the tastiest.
5. Apple Butter
This is a yummy spread made for toast! It’s made from apples! I haven’t had any in a while, but it is a very good thing to put on your toast once in a while. It is different than jam or jelly!
6. Fastnachts
A special doughnut made by the PA Dutch. There is a superstitious meaning behind the making of these doughnuts, but I only know them as a once-a-year delight. My grandmother makes them every year on Doughnut Day, using potatoes! I’ve never had a better doughnut.
7. Funny cake
This is a cake that is made of vanilla cake and chocolate, which is on the bottom. This is another cake trying to disguise itself as a pie. How did it get its name? Well, before you bake it, you pour the vanilla cake batter in first and then top it with the chocolate (actual chocolate). After baking, the vanilla cake and the chocolate have switched places! Now isn’t that funny?
8. Whoopie Pies
Take an oreo. Replace the cookies with a disc of chocolate cake each. Replace the little bit of cream with frosting. You now have a whoopie pie, congratulations. It comes in more flavors than just the plain chocolate and vanilla, but that is often the best. I’d definitely recommend finding a whoopie pie and eating one. No, I don’t know how it got the name.
9. Angel Food Cake
Heaven. Fluffy, yet dense cake. I love angel food cake.
10. Teaberry ice cream
How could I forget about my favorite ice cream flavor? Only found in Pennsylvania, making it a true regional flavor that even some people in Pennsylvania don’t know about. It is bright pink and looks like frozen Pepto-Bismol. However, the flavor is far from that. I would like to keep you unspoiled, so you’ll just have to go get some of your own. I hope you’ll be surprised! Fun fact: It’s made from a small native berry.
11. Scrapple
Some people like this one and some people don’t. I’m in the team that knows what it is and would rather not eat it. Scrapple is the leftover, scrap, parts of the pig. It’s all combined together and then made into a loaf using cornmeal. Some people like to fry it up in a pan and then top it with maple syrup. To each their own.
