Food and Recipes Desserts Pies How the Pecan Pie Became the South's Signature Dessert Do you know the origins of this Southern classic? By Southern Living Test Kitchen Southern Living Test Kitchen The Southern Living Test Kitchen has been publishing recipes since 1970, four years after the first issue of Southern Living Magazine appeared on newsstands. The Southern Living Test Kitchen team includes a team of professionals with deep expertise in recipe development, from pastry chefs and grilling experts to nutritionists and dietitians. Together, the team tests and retests, produces, styles, and photographs thousands of recipes each year in the state-of-the-art test kitchen facility located in Birmingham, Alabama. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on April 19, 2017 Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Alison Miksch The South's signature pecan pie is actually a relative latecomer to the Southern table. Recipes for milk-custard-based pecan pies can be found as early as 1824 in Mary Randolph's The Virginia Housewife, but it wasn't until the 1930s when promotional recipes for a syrup-based pecan pie appeared on the labels of Karo syrup bottles that its popularity soared. Some historians credit the original recipe to the wife of a Karo executive, but an even earlier version of the syrup-based pie appeared in the Texas Brownwood Bulletin in 1921. Thirty years later, Marion Brown's landmark Southern Cookbook proclaimed it "the South's most popular pie". Clever variations soon followed, including Tar Heel Pie and Kentucky Derby Pie. Our latest twist? A stellar riff on the flavors of German chocolate cake, for which the Lone Star State also claims bragging rights, German Chocolate-Pecan Pie. This pie has a caramelized ribbon of coconut and pecans topping a silky, profoundly chocolate filling. Need we say more? For more pecan pie recipes, check out Classic Pecan Pie Recipes. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit