Easy as pie. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report.

For some reason, life's problems just seem to fade away in the presence of a delicious fruit pie. I've never met a pie I didn't like. Creme pies are nice but I prefer fruit pies and apple is my absolute favorite but peach, Marion berry or cherry can hold their own. With fruit season just around the corner in the Northwest, this is an ideal time to look at one of our favorite dishes. Pie has been around for nearly 4000 years and has been traced back to the Egyptians. They passed it on to the Greeks who passed it to the Romans and so on. Pies appeared in England in the 12th century and the British are fond of meat pies and I have to say a Shepard's Pie is a mighty tasty thing. But we Americans consider pie a dessert and there are more pie recipes out there than you can imagine but simple is usually best. Bottom crust, ripe juicy fruit, a little sugar, maybe a squeeze of lemon to enhance the fruit flavor, some spices and either a top crust or crumbs. Many folks like to add either a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream but I prefer it plain with a glass of cold milk. So you could say that I'm really looking forward to the freshest of the fresh from our Pacific Northwest fruit growers this year. There's nothing a fresh hot slice of pie cannot over come.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.