Pumpkin Pie - My Favorite Pie!

Pumpkin pie consists of a pumpkin-based custard, ranging in color from orange to brown, baked in a single pie shell. There should be no top crust to hide the pumpkiny goodness! Flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger, pumpkin pie is traditionally served with whipped cream. I've heard, though, that in parts of Canada it is commonly served with maple syrup instead! Can anyone from Canada leave a comment and let us know if this is so?

In the USA, this pie is normally made from canned pumpkin or canned pumpkin pie filling which has all the spices already included. You'll generally find that pumpkin pies are seasonal in nature, and therefore only found pre-made in bakeries and grocery stores only during the months of October and November. (Too bad!)

When Pilgrims first arrived in the New World, they discovered many new things. One was the Native American's use of pumpkin. Many people associate pumpkin pie with the Pilgrims, but in actuality their first pies were not pies at all. Early Americans would scoop out a pumpkin, fill it with milk and pumpkin flesh and cook it for hours in hot ashes, often adding spices and syrup to make pudding.

Pumpkin soon became a focal point for the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving festivities, so much so that one early celebration was actually postponed until the arrival of a supply ship carrying molasses - a vital ingredient for baking the much-loved pies.

Early American cooks soon found all kinds of culinary uses for pumpkin. This golden fruit of the vine found its way into breads, puddings and sauces. Settlers would also dry out slices of pumpkin and store them for later when the snow was high and food was scarce. Pumpkin still remains a staple in America's kitchens even to this day.

LIBBY'S Pumpkin first found its way to grocers' shelves in 1929, when a food canning company in Chicago expanded its product line to include America's unique fruit. Unlike the average field pumpkin or Jack O'Lantern variety, Libby's only uses a pumpkin known for its rich, golden color, creamy texture and pure pumpkin flavor - the Dickinson. In fact, Libby's has developed its own special strain of Dickinson through years of agricultural research.

LIBBY'S has always been the major producer of canned pumpkin, planting approximately 4,000 acres of pumpkin each year. LIBBY'S Pumpkin is used to create more than 50 million pies every Thanksgiving.

(Source: Libby's Pumpkin Filling Site)

Q. Where were the first pumpkins grown?

A. Pumpkins are believed to have been first cultivated in Central America. Spanish and Portuguese explorers carried pumpkin seeds back to Europe in the 14th century. In North America, Native Americans grew pumpkins for food long before the first Europeans arrived on the continent in the 1600s.

Q. Why are pumpkins orange?

A. The vivid orange color of pumpkin indicates a high content of carotene pigments such as lutein, alpha-carotene and beta-carotene (which turns in to vitamin A in the body).

Q. Why are pumpkins associated with Halloween?

A. Using pumpkins as lanterns at Halloween is based on an ancient Celtic custom brought to America by Irish immigrants. All Hallows Eve on October 31st marked the end of the old Celtic calendar year. On that night hollowed-out turnips, beets and rutabagas with a candle inside were placed on windowsills and porches to welcome home spirits of deceased ancestors and ward off evil spirits and a restless soul called "Stingy Jack."

Q. Is the Halloween jack o'lantern the same as a LIBBY'S pumpkin?

A. Both pumpkins are members of the squash family grown on a variety of plant named Cucurbita pepo. However, LIBBY'S pumpkins were specially developed over time and are officially named the LIBBY'S Select Dickinson pumpkin. The LIBBY'S Select Dickinson pumpkin is smaller, squatter, meatier, heavier and sweeter than the Halloween pumpkin. It has a creamy texture and fresh pure pumpkin flavor - perfect for cooking!

Q. Why do we eat pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving?

A. In 1621, at the first Thanksgiving celebrated by the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to give thanks for their first successful harvest, they ate a pumpkin custard flavored with maple syrup and spices baked in pumpkin shells. The beloved Thanksgiving pumpkin pie evolved from this treat.

Q. Is the pumpkin a vegetable or a fruit?

A. Surprise! The pumpkin is actually a fruit, a member of the Cucurbitaceae family of plants with trailing vines.

Q. How big was the largest pumpkin ever grown?

A. Gerry Checkon of Altoona, Pennsylvania grew a pumpkin weighing 1,131 pounds from Atlantic Giant seed stock on October 2, 1999.

(Source: Libby's!)