1Designating and adopting the Shoofly Pie as the official State
2pie of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

3The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:

4(1) Encouraged by William Penn's open invitation to
5persecuted religious groups, various sects of Christian
6Anabaptists, including the Mennonite, the Amish and the
7Brethren, emigrated from Germany and Switzerland. The first
8sizeable group arrived in America in the 1730s and settled
9near Lancaster County.

10(2) The Shoofly Pie is common in Pennsylvania's Amish
11and Mennonite communities and is, perhaps, the dessert most
12identified with these communities.

13(3) The Shoofly Pie was originally created using dietary
14staples of the early settlers, particularly those that would
15have survived a long boat trip. These staples were flour,
16brown sugar, molasses, lard, salt and spices.

17(4) The Shoofly Pie consists of a crumb-topped molasses

1and egg filling within a pie shell.

2(5) Shoofly Pie seems to be a variation of the older
3Treacle Tart, a common dessert in Great Britain. Treacle is
4the British generic name for any syrup made during the
5refining of sugar cane. Molasses was often substituted for
6treacle in colonial American recipes.

7(6) One theory regarding the origin of the name Shoofly
8Pie relates to the pools of sweet, sticky molasses that
9sometimes formed on the surface of the pie while it was
10cooling, invariably attracting flies.

11(7) The Shoofly Pie has a very special place in
12Pennsylvania's culinary history and in the hearts of
13Commonwealth residents and visitors alike.

14The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
15hereby enacts as follows:

16Section 1. Official State pie.

17The Shoofly Pie is hereby designated and adopted as the
18official State pie of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

19Section 2. Effective date.

20This act shall take effect in 60 days.