The 14th-century apple pie recipe includes apples, figs, raisins, and pears.
The combination is recorded in The Forme of Cury, an English cookbook from the late 14th century. Its recipe calls for good apples, spices, figs, raisins, and pears enclosed in a pastry casing known as a cofyn. This makes the dish notably different from the modern apple pie, whose filling is usually centered almost entirely on apples.
Dried figs and raisins would have added concentrated sweetness, while pears supplied another soft, fragrant fruit. Spices and saffron further enriched the mixture. Medieval cooks often combined fresh and dried fruits in ways that do not match today’s standard pie recipes.
The recipe is important because it shows that apple pie has a long English history, but it should not be treated as a direct blueprint for every modern version. Over time, regional ingredients, changing sugar availability, pastry techniques, and culinary preferences narrowed the familiar filling toward apples, sugar, and warming spices.