While others had their layer cakes stacked high with butter cream frosting in super hero designs, I delighted in a perfect, simple, wedge; always cold from the fridge and topped with fresh whipped cream.
Later in life I decided that I liked pumpkin pie so much that I chose my wife based on the fact that she makes nothing short of the world’s best pumpkin pie. It’s true — she’s kind and brilliant and I very much like spending time with her, but it’s really the pumpkin pie that sealed the deal.
So being the horticulture guy that I am, I suggested a number of years back that we experiment with different pumpkin varieties. (Remember, I said that she’s the brilliant one, not me!) I grew out a bunch of varieties and our son and I spent what seemed like 12 college football games worth of time cutting, scooping, baking and mashing until we had mounds and mounds of beige, spackle-looking stuff. This wasn’t looking good.
Then after much coaxing, the pies came out of the oven, to a cooling rack on the counter and finally into the refrigerator for the last bit of conditioning. And then it was time for the tasting.
Now I have to be a bit careful here — after all, all I did was grow and mash the pumpkins. I had nothing to do with the actual pie making. But the results were immediate, consistent and clear as a bell . . . and it wasn’t good.
Put to a vote we all agreed, the best pumpkin pie in the world is made with . . . Libby’s canned pumpkin. Or should I say, Libby’s canned squash.
You see technically, there’s actually no pumpkin in a Libby’s can of “pumpkin.” While we may be splitting taxonomic hairs here, what we all eat every fall, be it in our pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice latte or, as I was horrified to see in Kroger this week, pumpkin spice Frosted Flakes (!), is what’s known as the Dickinson squash.
Pumpkins as they are recognized today are those big, oblong or round things with bright orange skin and pale, thin flesh that is the consistency of freshly hewn granite. They’re more easily cut with a Dremel rotary tool than a knife and they were never intended to be eaten. They are bred to hold up as long as possible when cut open and exposed to the elements and gnawing squirrels. That pumpkin is known in the plant world as belonging to Cucurbita pepo subspecies pepo.
Likely first domesticated in Mexico or Central America at least 8,000 years ago, Cucurbita pepo, the Jack-O-Lantern’s parent species, is a wildly varying species. In fact it shows such variation that taxonomists have been trying since the Civil War to come up with a clear picture of all the varieties, subspecies and forms. Bottom line is the good old Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin is the very same species as a whole bunch of squash you can find in the grocery store every day; zucchini, summer, crooked neck, acorn squash and those multitudes of ornamental gourds.
To make matters even more confusing, the closely related Cucurbita moschata, also from Central America, is a species that contains another large group of squash and squash-like things including Blue Hubbard, Butternut and Cushaw squash as well as our friend the Dickinson pumpkin/squash thingy.
And if you really want to shave down to the details of Libby’s “pumpkin,” they claim to have developed their own, proprietary strain of Cururbita pepo subsp. pepo ‘Dickinson’ that you can only get in their special cans!
Worldwide more than 300 million tons of over 1,000 varieties of assorted cucurbits are grown in over 100 countries on six continents, excluding Antarctica.
But there’s still only one person who makes the world’s best pie — and I know where she lives!
The pie is generally flavored with pumpkin pie spice, a blend that includes cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves or allspice. The pie is usually prepared with canned pumpkin, but fresh-cooked pumpkin can be used.
Later in life I decided that I liked pumpkin pie so much that I chose my wife based on the fact that she makes nothing short of the world’s best pumpkin pie. It’s true — she’s kind and brilliant and I very much like spending time with her, but it’s really the pumpkin pie that sealed the deal.
And if you really want to shave down to the details of Libby’s “pumpkin,” they claim to have developed their own, proprietary strain of Cururbita pepo subsp. pepo ‘Dickinson’ that you can only get in their special cans!
Now I have to be a bit careful here — after all, all I did was grow and mash the pumpkins. I had nothing to do with the actual pie making. But the results were immediate, consistent and clear as a bell . . . and it wasn’t good.
Put to a vote we all agreed, the best pumpkin pie in the world is made with . . . Libby’s canned pumpkin. Or should I say, Libby’s canned squash.
Then after much coaxing, the pies came out of the oven, to a cooling rack on the counter and finally into the refrigerator for the last bit of conditioning. And then it was time for the tasting.
Pumpkins are a beloved symbol of fall, the decoration of choice on Halloween, and the star of countless pumpkin pies — wait, actually, that last one is a lie, unless you make your own pumpkin puree and use that in your dessert.
Native North Americans often grew them as part of the “Three Sisters” (maize, beans, and squash), and they were an important staple food for surviving the winters.
Today, pumpkins are grown on every continent except Antarctica, with India and China being some of the top producers. In the U.S., the Midwest claims the highest number of crops. Specifically, an area within 50 miles of Morton, IL produces most all of the pumpkins consumed in North America.
Since the 1970s, American farmers have prioritized bigger, sturdier pumpkins better suited for carving than cooking, so the standard pumpkin has become the large, smooth, orange one that comes to mind when we think “pumpkin patch.”
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Is Pumpkin Pie Really Better with EXPENSIVE Ingredients?
FAQ
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