The Tarahumara Indians grow apples in Mexico’s Copper Canyon’s higher mountainous elevations, migrating almost two miles down to the warmer canyon bottoms below during the colder seasons where they grow corn, beans, herbs, mangos and other crops. The Copper Canyon is known among botanists for being one of the world’s mega centers for plants and habitat diversity – which ranges from semi-tropical and desert in the river canyons to alpine forests in the mountains above.

The apples were introduced to the area centuries ago by Jesuits to be grown on the missions and ranches for local consumption. Rare Heirloom varieties of apples, and other plants are still grown along with modern hybrid variations of Golden and Red Delicious – for table fare, juice and hard cider. Tarahumara apples prized for being sweet and intensely flavorful, are distributed to markets at home and abroad. In Mexico it’s a common sight to see a Freightliner truck with a portrait of an Indian wearing a red bandana on his forehead – followed by the words: Tarahumara Apples -emblazoned on the side of the trailer.

Decades ago, when Dona Vilma Balderrama was a young girl attending a Nuns college in Minnesota she often spent her vacations at the college where the Nuns taught her cooking - and especially – how to bake an American apple pie.

She brought the recipe back to the family owned Mision Hotel in Cerocahui high in the Tarahumara Mountains. The Indian cooks incorporating locally grown wheat, butter, spices and Tarahumara apples, created a signature dessert dish that has become a hotel tradition for thirty years.

One taste, and I discovered a pie with the magical power to transport me back to my roots. Memories of Thanksgivings, Christmas dinners, family picnics and more flooded my mind while flavors and aromas of apples and spices pleased and teased my palate. I experienced something unique - a slice of edible heaven.

San Francisco may have its sour dough bread, New York - its pizza, and New Orleans - its Gumbo - but in a little Mexican mountain village named Cerocahui - they have American apple pie - and then some....

San Francisco may have its sour dough bread, New York - its pizza, and New Orleans - its Gumbo - but in a little Mexican mountain village named Cerocahui - they have American apple pie - and then some....

For more information on Cerocahui, Tarahumara Indians and the spectacular train ride through the Copper Canyon from Los Mochis to Chihuahua – visit: www.mexicoscoppercanyon.com