As a kid, I didn’t understand where pumpkin pie came from. My best guess was that it was somehow made from the goopy insides we scooped out while getting ready to carve jack-o’-lanterns. I thought of the outside as kind of a hard shell and was surprised to learn that (minus the peel) is actually the edible part. It seemed like magic, and I knew I had to try it one day.
Fast forward to November a couple years ago when I finally gave it a try.
I started with the wrong kind of pumpkin. At least that’s what people kept telling me. This giant orange carving pumpkin came with our CSA box. Even though I knew it wasn’t a pie pumpkin, that’s what I had, and I wanted to make it work. A little internet research made me think it could be done, so I gave it a shot.
I scooped seeds, cut the squash into pieces, and baked it. Phillip helped me remove the peel.
One of the downsides of a carving/non-pie pumpkin is they tend to be more watery. The fix is letting the baked pumpkin set for awhile and then pouring off the excess water. Easy enough. I did this a couple times, then immersion blended it into a puree.
The taste seemed a little bland (another one of the potential side effects of carving pumpkins) until I added my homemade spice blend. All of the sudden it tasted like pumpkin pie.
I had decided not to do the crust from scratch – another project for another time. I made 3 pies and later pumpkin bread. I froze the extra pumpkin puree in large freezer bags.
The pies got rave reviews.
The process took way longer than I expected. Still, I enjoyed the magic of transforming a pumpkin into a pie. And watching the naysayers eat their words.