 Cooked birds were frequently placed by European royal cooks on top of a large pie to identify its contents, leading to its later adaptation in pre-Victorian times as a porcelain ornament to release of steam and identify a good pie.The apple pie was first referenced in writing in 1589, when the poet R. Green wrote "Thy breath is like the seeme of apple pies".Medieval England had an early form of sweet pies, but they were called tarts and fruit pies were unsweetened, because sugar was a rare and costly 
"symbol of wealth".