Or Not
Today: There’s no pumpkin in pumpkin pie.
No Pumpkin In Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin pie is Thanksgiving’s biggest lie. Well, there are actually a lot of lies surrounding Thanksgiving in America, but we’ll focus on this deliciously deceptive pie for now.
First, pumpkin makes for a terrible pie. The only way to turn the jack-o’-lantern you procrastinated past Halloween into an even somewhat palatable dish is a lot of hard work and very little pumpkin. A pumpkin pie made with the spherical orange pumpkin bought from your local supermarket is edible only if you use a thin layer of pumpkin and a whole lot of spice.
Appropriately thin pumpkin pie.
Perjurious Pies
So, if people went around making edible pies with real pumpkins in them, the pumpkin industry wouldn’t sell very much of the canned “pumpkin” pie filling that sits on store shelves next to the stuffing and cranberry sauce this time of year.
What did this cabal of gourd growers scheme to convince people their pumpkin pie should be a good two inches thick? The canned squash instead of pumpkin.
Hubbard squash, which is often used to make “pumpkin” filling.
100% Pure LIES
If you just stormed to the cabinet, pulled out your freshly purchased can of pumpkin, and indignantly turned it around to look at the ingredient list, it will most likely read: “pumpkin”.
Just simple, pureed, genuine pumpkin. Most labels even boast “100% Pumpkin”. It’s probably why you bought it. You didn’t want added corn syrup, or spices, you wanted unadulterated jack-o’-lantern blood, but a loophole created by the Food and Drug Administration allows this lie to spread with impunity.
According to FDA policies issued in 1969, any sweet squashes or mixtures of squashes are allowed to use the label “pumpkin”. The FDA makes no distinction between pumpkins—scientifically named Cucurbita pepo variety pepo—and any other “gold-skinned” squash.
While we do admit a pumpkin is also a squash, the popular squashes used in canned pie filling include butternut squash and Hubbard squash. Supplanting these squash with pumpkin is like replacing a golden retriever with a Pomeranian: they’re both golden—and both dogs—but very different.
Lies. You can make a damn-good pumpkin pie with an actual store-bought pumpkin. Just buy a small, pie pumpkin instead of a giant one meant for jack-o-lanterns. They may use golden squash in canned pumpkin, I don’t actually know for sure, but don’t claim that you can’t make a good pie from a pumpkin.
We have done the same thing. Used traditional Halloween pumpkins for pies. Taste very good, quite similar to store pie filling or store made pies….
People don’t know how to cook anymore. Although my mother would never use a jack o lantern pumpkin to make pies with I have used them and yes the pies come out just fine.
My dog looks somewhat like a miniature golden retriever, but he is a 30 lb Pomeranian-Fox Terrier-Chihuahua mix. I prefer sweet potato pie to pumpkin anyway.
This article makes me sad. I expected more from Ripley’s. I find it sad that you call Libbeys liers when if you do a little research into the history of the work pumpkin you will find the word comes from Latin and french meaning melon and initially it was a description of all squash and melon. The idea that the only squash that is used for “pumpkin” pies is a single cultivar used primarily for decoration is one of assumptions based only on association during the holidays. The large pumpkins(note i am using that name in the generic sense), are mainly used for jack o lanterns! something the Irish immigrants brought with them early on to the new world that incidentally were traditionally anything from gourds to turnips. they quickly started making them out of squash and the bigger the better until hybridization and human competitive nature gave us the “giant pumpkin” a monster upwards of 200 lbs. Most people call the carveable pumpkins jack o lantern pumpkins. the varieties they have to mix together to grow them big like this and hollow so you dont have this meaty rotting thing on your stoop are more fibrous and can be pretty watery but if pushed, a good cook can make a silk purse out of a sows ear. on the other hand the growers have also responded to public interest in a better tasting bakeable pie “Pumpkin” with a small variety you can now get in the groceries that is much more suited to making into pies.
My feeling is this. Why attack a company that is actually providing a healthy delicious nutritious, and convenient product for rushed moms dads and grand parents during the holidays in a day and age of so many actually fake foods that contain no nutrition? I think it is stupid. I much prefer encouraging the continued production of healthy alternatives rather than making them feel bad like “why are we trying to make this product when people are screaming ignorant complaints about it. I personally like Libbey’s version of their pumpkin puree. Although I have made fresh pumpkin pie as well because i wanted to see if it would taste different. I found the difference is mainly in convenience and water content. The fresh ones you need to drain the excess juice out of the quash meat before running it through your food processor, and It takes a fair amount of time to clean cut de-seed bake and remove from the shell the fresh one before baking the pie as well. All in all it makes making your Thanks giving pumpkin pie a much faster and to me equally delicious nutritious pie in the end. Plus I can make one any time of year since pumpkins are so seasonal. Or if you like spending half your day devoted to processing and packing pumpkin puree in your freezer that is certainly an option open to anyone who wants to take the time and effort. My advice to any one who wants to taste test, don’t be afraid to try all the different squashes in your pie recipe and see which one you like best and by the way as one other poster states, sweet potato is also a great alternative. You get farther and happier by being positive instead of negative in this life, so smile and choose your battles wisely because we dont want to ruin the good things in life for people.
My great-grandmother uses real pumpkins to make pumpkin pies.