Mason-Dixon Recipes

Creamy Kool-Aid Pie

To choose dogma and faith over doubt and experience is to throw out the ripening vintage and to reach greedily for the Kool-Aid.

         — Christopher Hitchens

Edwin Perkins (1889-1961) was head of a manufacturing company in the 1920's called Perkins Products. He sold over one hundred items—creams, medicines, salves, and food flavoring. Fruit Smack was the most popular product in the Perkins line, but handling and shipping the glass bottles caused problems.

By 1927, Perkins had developed a method of removing the liquid from Fruit Smack so the remaining powder could be packaged in envelopes, named Kool-Ade (later Kool-Aid). The new product came in six flavors: grape, lemon-lime, cherry, orange, raspberry, and strawberry.

Kool-Aid began to be distributed to stores all over the country. During the Depression, it was still a luxury most could afford. General Foods purchased Kool-Aid in 1953 who introduced the popular Smiling Face Pitcher. The company is now owned by Kraft Holdings, which markets it with flavors ranging far beyond the original six.

INGREDIENTS

1 8-oz tub of Cool Whip
1 packet Kool-Aid flavor
1 14-oz can Eagle Brand
1 9-inch Graham Cracker pie crust

DIRECTIONS

Combine Cool Whip and Eagle Brand. Whisk together with Kool-Aid. Add to Graham Cracker crust and refrigerate. Optionally add some fresh fruit to the top.

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