why is the filling in a mince pie called mincemeat when there is no meat?

Answer 1

As I understand it in medieval times they did contain minced up meat left overs but they did not have freezers so the meat was a bit high so they started putting fruit, spices and sugary things in them to improve the taste and gradually they just became fruit etc.

Answer 2

Reading in the Tesco magazine,there is a piece on Mince Pies.
They were introduced in England during the 1500's,and they were made from mince meat.
It was a tradition to eat a pie for each of the 12 days of Christmas,so the following 12 months would be happy.
I wouldn't suggest doing nowadays,as each mince pie contains around 200 calories.Mind you,the dentist wouldn't like it either,imagine all those bad teeth after eating that lot.

Answer 3

a minced meat pie (or shredded meat pie) is a medieval dish.
the fruit, peel and spices were originally added to the meat to make it go further and to make poor tasting meat more palatable.
salt in the pie helped to preserve it.

over the years the pie has changed to a sweeter fruit dish rather than a savoury meat dish.
sugar became the preserving agent rather than salt.

however if you look at the labelling of a jar of mincemeat or a packet of bought pies you will see suet listed.
(mince pies are far better if you make them yourself, especially if you make your own mincemeat).

suet is the dense fat that surrounds the kidneys - usually from cattle. this appears as the white lumps in uncooked mincemeat.

so - you do have meat in your mincepies!!

vegetarian options are available - these use 'vegetarian suet' - a far inferior product made from plant oils usually.
most products are hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated and this is very bad for you.

Answer 4

Mincemeat was originally a conglomeration of bits of meat, dried fruit and spices, created as an alternative to smoking or drying for preservation, a variant form of sausage. Mincemeat containing actual meat has become less common over the years.
If you like you can still add the "meat" to your pies.
I have tried it and it's pretty good.

Answer 5

It used to be made of meat, dried fruit and spices as an alternative to drying or smoking to preserve meat. It was a variant form of sausage. Gradually the meat was taken out and it became mainly made with fruit, suet and spices. It may also contain alcohol.

Answer 6

in Elizabethan times it used to have minced lamb and beef in the filling as well as fruit and spices

Answer 7

As I understand it, the word "meat" is derived from an Old English word "mete", which referred to food in general, not just from animals.

Answer 8

I always wondered about it myself - still do. Hope somebody has an answer to this one. Mind boggles.

Answer 9

Yeah, weirda hey!