The EU likes this type of pie so much it gave it an official protected status

The EU has a lot on its plate right now with the Greek debt crisis and Britain threatening an exit from the Union - but it seems there's still space on the plate for some pie.

The EU announced today that it's added the filling of traditional British dessert Bramley Apple Pie to its register of Traditional Specialties Guaranteed (TSG).

The mark of quality recognises that a food is made in a specific traditional way or with traditional ingredients and is meant to make it more appealing to consumers. Other TSG products include Italian Mozzarella and Polish Kabanos sausage.

Crucially, the status prevents anyone from marketing any old pie as a "Bramley Apple Pie." Now, to use that term, companies have to follow the EU's specifications. Cornish Pasties and Melton Mowbray Pork Pies have similar restrictions.

Despite the fact that apple pie is more usually associated with the US, the EU sets out why Britain's Bramley Apple Pie filling makes the cut:

The fruits of the grafted Bramley apple were first exhibited before the Royal Horticultural Society's Fruit Committee on 6 December 1876. During the Victorian Age, there was a quest to develop single purpose culinary apple varieties for the ultimate apple pie recipe. At the 1883 National Apple Congress the Bramley was acclaimed as the best-suited variety for apple pies. Since then, the recipe for Traditional Bramley Apple Pie Filling has remained unchanged and is still commercially used today.

Bramley Apple Pie filling is the UK's third TSG food after Gloucestershire Old Spots Pork and Traditional Farmfresh Turkey. There are pending applications for Birmingham Balti and British Watercress to get the status too.