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pie pumpkins
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Posted by thomis 7 (My Page) on Wed, Oct 21, 09 at 8:20
| What makes a pie pumpkin a pie pumpkin? I was at the farmer's market and asking around to all the vendors, which are basically farmers' relatives bringing their fruit in to market, most everyone just points me to the small pumpkins for pies. I ask, "is it a pie pumpkin?" and they all just say "oh yeah, you can make a pie with that".
Also, I had an exciting evening in the orchard last night with a little let down :(
I picked my first apples since starting the orchard from one year whips in Nov 2007.
I let two apples remain on my Yates apple tree and picked all other apples off of all other trees to let them get strong this year.
So the two nursery websites I use said that Yates should ripen in October. I picked the two Yates apples and my wife and I tried them. They were still pretty green. I think they could have used another two weeks at least to fully ripen. Oh well, next year I think I should have some apples. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: pie pumpkins
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- Posted by myk1 5 IL (My Page) on
Wed, Oct 21, 09 at 9:19
Any pumpkin can make pie. Any pumpkin can make a jack-o-lantern.
Jack-o-lanterns have less meat and thicker skin so they hold up to being jack-o-lanterns better. Pie pumpkins have more meat and thin skin so they are better suited for pies.
I imagine Libbys pays by the pound so you want that thick meat. They also don't care about how they keep once cut so don't need the thick skin. And they don't give away free pumpkins any more, but they used to when I lived in that town and we all made jack-o-lanterns out of them. Don't forget the roasted pumpkin seeds. I let apples start falling before declaring them done. That may or may not work for you, some varieties don't like to come off. |
RE: pie pumpkins
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| I prefer to grow Hubbard type squash for my "pumpkin" recipes. To me, the flavor is more robust, and the yield is much greater. Ordinary pumpkin flesh is rather wimpy by comparison. The squash is cut in two, placed cut side down in a baking pan of water half way up, and baked until soft. The flesh can be pureed and frozen, which I do in half-pint sized containers. They are used mainly for waffles, which are baked 8-10 at a time and frozen. Makes a great "quickie" breakfast, and easy to re-crisp in the toaster oven. I can a lot of fresh fruit in season, which makes a perfect accompaniment, with sour cream topping - yum. Just my 2 c's. Bejay |
RE: pie pumpkins
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| Bejay, I couldn't agree with you more. This was my first year for hubbards, and I've fallen in love with them. I like them better than all the other winter squashes. I'm anxious to try them in waffles. Cutting them can be a chore. I simply drop them on concrete. They break into nice, manageable pieces that way. Brook |
RE: pie pumpkins
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| BTW, and FWIW, Libby's and all other commercial "pumpkin" is actually butternut squash. They use this because its deeper orange, less fiber, sweeter. There is no legal definition of pumpkin, just the convention of horticulture that says a roundish, usually orange fruit is a "pumpkin" while other shapes and colors are "squash." Even horticulture violates its own terminology at times, calling Cushaws "pumpkins" many times, even though they are not generally round or orange. |
RE: pie pumpkins
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- Posted by myk1 5 IL (My Page) on
Wed, Oct 21, 09 at 12:51
Nothing like bad internet information to brighten one's day.
I guarantee you the pumpkins piled up in Libbys lot are roundish pumpkins and not shaped like a butternut squash.
They even brag about being "real" pumpkin on the label label label. What they grow is a Cucurbita pepo not maxima.
"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! "
Libby's trivia If you buy canned pumpkin in the US odds are (95%) this is where it it is grown and canned and it IS pumpkin. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Find me the butternut squash on this guy's flicker page
RE: pie pumpkins
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| BUTTERNUT SQUASH. Japanese Kabocha also makes a delicious, sweet pie. Most "pumpkins" are for carving or decorating these days. Rain2Fall |
RE: pie pumpkins
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| Myk1 --- sorry, I'm not trying to pass off bad information. Really I'm not. I've always heard though, that the pumpkin used in commercially processed canned pumpkin is a C. moschata, a butternut. I just googled it, and it seems like there is conflicting information out there about whether this particular one, Dickinson, is a C. moschata or a C. pepo, or just what. It would be interesting to know what it really is. To me, from the photos, they sort of have the "look" of a C. moschata, but that is a subjective thing too, I think. I might have to try growing the beasties myself next year just to find out. Anyway, one thing I DO stand by -- I ALWAYS use butternut for my pumpkin pie. MUCH nicer than even New England Sugar or Winter Luxury, IMO. |
RE: Dickinson
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| From the Sandhill Preservation 2009 catalog: Dickinson: 115 days. (C. moschata) A nice, blocky, oblong cheese type. Fruits are a buffy tan, slightly ribbed and grow to 40 lbs. Flesh is sweet, orange and excellent for pies. Pkt. $2.00 OG I guess the next question is: Is Dickinson the same as the one Libby's growers use? |
RE: pie pumpkins
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- Posted by myk1 5 IL (My Page) on
Wed, Oct 21, 09 at 17:21
| Personally I think Libbys will use whatever someone sells them. I'm fairly sure they buy the contest pumpkins which are likely maximus. When you see them in the fields they look like maximus. They could be moschata but that doesn't make them butternuts, the fact they'll cross with butternuts likely means they are moschata but are not butternuts which are necked. They're definitely not necked. Now that I've found out there's question that they are anything but the field pumpkins I grew up around I wonder if they're not a hybrid. What would Libby's have to gain by saying they were something else especially if moschata makes better pie than pepo? This description goes along with what I've always heard. Different pumpkins different purpose. Although you can mix the purposes because at least to me squash tastes pretty much the same. (But I can't stand pumpkin pie so don't take my word for jack-o-lanterns making a tolerable pie because IMO all pumpkin pie sucks.) |
Here is a link that might be useful: MSU
RE: pie pumpkins
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I am under the impression that Libby's uses their own strain of Dickenson. I also think their growers are under contract and plant what Libby's wants. I am quite sure they are not buying any old thing. The large jack-o-lantern type are very fibrous. It is difficult to make a decent pie with one. Perhaps pumpkin bread with them would work. They are probably also good for cattle feed. People 60 years ago around here used to feed a lot of pumpkins to cattle.
Robert |
RE: pie pumpkins
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- Posted by myk1 5 IL (My Page) on
Thu, Oct 22, 09 at 14:12
I didn't mean they were buying any old thing in quantity from farmers, Snider.
At least when I was young and living in that town the contest pumpkins ended up a Libby's. They are not the same strain as the ones in the fields. I can't say for sure that the 856lb winner this year ended up at Libby's but when I lived there it would've. It's definitely not the variety grown in the fields. |
RE: pie pumpkins
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I use a small "sugar pumpkin". They are small orange pumpkins. I've found the easiest way to butcher these guys is to plop them in the oven on 225 for about 2 hours, whole on a baking sheet.
Take them out and they will fall apart. Just scoop out the seeds and guts, put the seeds in a strainer. Toss the guts in the compost container.
Slide the meat off the skin with fingers into your bowl and mush it up. It's so easy! After all these years of trying to skin squash and pumpkin raw and nearly cutting my fingers off!!
The seeds I just swirl around with water and the pulp comes off. I then toss with a teaspoon or two of a toasted peanut or sesame oil and a little salt. Put back in the oven on 225 for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
If I'm waiting for the oven I might soak seeds in salt water for an hour or two.
I strain my pumpkin meat unless making soup because it's a little wetter than from the can. |
RE: pie pumpkins
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| The New England Sugar is reputed to be the best of the Pumpkin types for pie, but I agree that most all modern pie filling is really squash........less stringy and milder flavor. Pumpkins can get a very rank musty smell. If you must use pumpkin, go with New England Sugar, they are smaller fruits, but the vines are productive, and have a smaller seed cavity. Jack O lanterns are almost all seed cavity and hollow space. |
RE: pie pumpkins
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| I tried to make it with butternut squash using my favorite pumpkin pie recipe. It was so-so. I then found a "pie pumpkin" at the local farmer's market called Indian River Pie pumpkin. I googled it when I got home and found one hit. Anyways, it turns out it was really a Long Island Cheese pumpkin, or one of it's variants at least. Long story short, I have made two pies with it using the same recipe and it is by far the best pumpkin pie I have ever had. Years past I always used a small sugar pie pumpkin. They make good pies too, but this was a cut above. Thomis |
RE: pie pumpkins
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| Long Island Cheese is very good. Any of the butternuts are pretty similar, IMO -- all that deep orange, sweet, low fiber flesh. To clarify, I usually refer to any C. moschata as a butternut, even though I know that is technically incorrect. |
RE: pie pumpkins
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The species of squash that includes Butternut tends to prefer a warmer climate. Pumpkins are more a bit more cool weather tolerant and ripen a little sooner, "usually"
Never heard of Long Island Cheese. Is it really a pumpkin or some sort of Squash? How big do they get and who has seeds of it to trade? |
RE: pie pumpkins
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| Long Island Cheese is a pretty common variety, actually. I've even seen seed on the seed racks at some of the garden centers. It is a round, flat ("cheese shaped" -- like a wheel of cheese) "pumpkin" usually around a foot in diameter, maybe weighing 8 to 10 lbs on average (just sort of guessing here). I had a couple this year. It is a C. moschata, has typical buff colored skin and deep orange flesh. I'd offer to send you seeds, but they probably aren't pure, and frankly, I'm a bad trader -- I'm really slow at getting things out usually. Alas, always too much to do. |
RE: pie pumpkins
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| I was under the understanding that Neck Pumpkins were the ones grown for pie filling. Way more meat-to-seed ratio in this variety, and much easier to prepare for filling! Below is a link to a website with photos of them. Carla in Sac |
Here is a link that might be useful: Pie pumpkins
RE: pie pumpkins
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| Msnbc is saying there is a shortage of pumpkins because of the crappy IL weather... about the types of pumpkins:
quote/It plants a special strain of pumpkin at a farm in Morton, Ill., which provides nearly all its products. If you turned all the pumpkins on its farm to pie, it would total 90 million pies, Nestle spokeswoman Roz O'Hearn said./quote http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34044358/ns/business-food_inc/ |
RE: pie pumpkins
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| we have had 2 years of crappy IL weather. Not looking for a 3rd. Better stock up on the canned pumkin. |
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