Indiana's Unofficial State Pie: Wick's Sugar Cream

Indiana may be one of the only states with an unofficial state pie, the Wick’s Sugar Cream Pie made in tiny Winchester (Randolph County), just east of Muncie on State Road 32. The Indiana State Senate voted to adopt the Sugar Cream Pie as the state pie in 2009. Wick’s Sugar Cream Pie is also one of my favorites, and I always ask for one at Thanksgiving.

Their factory is constantly in production, producing 10,000 pies and 30,000 pie shells in a single 8-hour shift. That’s 2 pies for every person in Winchester every single day (Winchester has 4,887 residents). All told, they produce roughly 12 million pies and shells in a single year, in 35 sizes, shapes, and formulations.

Called Sugar Pie in other parts of the country, sugar cream pie was popularized by the Amish, but is also found in Quebec. Wick’s pie is based on a Wickersham family recipe from their family farm in the 1800s. They still use the same ingredients they would have found on the farm back then: milk, sugar, flour, shortening, vanilla, and nutmeg.

Apparently — and I didn’t even know this — their other pies include Southern Pecan, Peanut Butter Cream, German Chocolate, Pumpkin, and Pumpkin Chess.

Wick’s also has a restaurant located near the factory where you can buy a slice of pie and a tenderloin for $7 (at least, according to a 2012 article on this blog). I need to try it one of these days when I go visit my dad in Muncie.

Wick’s may also be one of the largest employers in Winchester, with more than 75 people on staff, handling production, delivery, and — if my résumé reaches the right people — an official daily taster.