Did I feel a crispness in the air? Did I spot a leaf turning yellow? Fall is coming. And I knew for sure the season was changing when my local garden center was overflowing with pumpkins. Bright orange, pale white, dappled, perfectly smooth or bumpy and gnarled. I was ready to fill my front porch with pumpkins.
How do you pick a pumpkin? Which ones can you eat? And is a pumpkin pie made from scratch worth the effort?
As fall arrives and Halloween approaches, we answer you burning pumpkin questions.
Where do pumpkins come from?
What's more American than pumpkin pie? The Thanksgiving favorite, though, is not native to the area that's now the United States. But it's been here a long time.
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Pumpkins probably originated in Mexico and Central America and then spread north. Indigenous people added pumpkins to their diets more than 9,000 years ago.
Pumpkins, high in fiber and vitamin D, are members of the gourd family, just like squash, zucchini, cucumbers and melons. Their name comes from the English word "pumpion," which was an Old World melon.
Pick a winner at the pumpkin patch
Pumpkins look stout, but they're still a vegetable. If you want your pumpkin to last on the porch through the fall season, be sure to pick a fresh one.
How do you know if a pumpkin is fresh? Make sure it has no cracks, splits or soft spots that are a sign of rot.
Gently press a fingernail into the rind. If you can easily push through the surface, the pumpkin was probably picked too early and will rot. A mature pumpkin will not easily scratch.
The freshest pumpkins have bright green stems. A dry and shriveled stem means the pumpkin has been sitting around for a while.
And resist the urge to carry the pumpkin by its stem. Breaking the stem can cause rot to set in.
If you're carving the pumpkin into a jack-o'-lantern, hold off until a few days before Halloween. A carved pumpkin will normally start to decay three to five days after it's cut. In the South, where even the fall can be warm and humid, the rot could happen sooner. Although a moldy, misshapen pumpkin might be the scary look you want.
How to make a pumpkin pie
The original pumpkin dessert in the Colonies was a gourd cut open, cleaned of seeds and stuffed with apples, molasses, spice and milk.
By the late 18th century, the pumpkin pie found today on nearly every Thanksgiving table was well established.
The pumpkins we eat, often labeled pie or sweet pumpkins, are smaller and less watery than the ones used for decorating. Heritage varieties that are good for cooking include Baby Pam, Autumn Gold, Fairytale and Cinderella pumpkins.
If you're making a pie, you'll need puree. Carefully slice your pumpkin in half. Cut off the stem and scrape out the seeds. Put the halves face down in a baking dish, cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for an hour and half until soft. Remove the flesh and puree it in a food processor. To remove some of the water, wrap the puree in a kitchen towel and let it drain in a colander for an hour.
Each pound of pumpkin will give you about a half cup of puree.
Pumpkin pie recipe
The indispensable"Joy of Cooking" includes this classic pumpkin pie recipe, which can be made with either canned or fresh pumpkin puree. It is absolutely worth using fresh pumpkin. The pie will have a subtle complexity that you cannot get from canned pumpkin. The “Joy of Cooking” authors note the best "pumpkin" pie they ever tasted was actually made with butternut squash.
Makes 1 pie
Ingredients
- 9-inch pie crust
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups pumpkin puree, either canned or fresh
- 1 1/2 cups sweetened condensed milk
- 1/3 cup packed (75g) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Blind bake the pie crust according to the directions on the package. Beat one of the eggs and brush the crust with the egg wash. Bake the crust further until golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the remaining two eggs and all the other ingredients. Pour the mixture into the warm pie crust, then bake for 35 to 45 minutes until firm.
Cool the pie on a rack before serving.
Todd A. Price covers food and culture across the South. He can be reached at taprice@gannett.com.
