Pumpkin pie is a dessert pie with a spiced, pumpkin-based custard filling. The pumpkin and pumpkin pie are both a symbol of harvest time,[1][2] and pumpkin pie is generally eaten during the fall and early winter. In the United States and Canada it is usually prepared for Thanksgiving,[3] Christmas, and other occasions when pumpkin is in season.
The pie's filling ranges in color from orange to brown and is baked in a single pie shell, usually without a top crust. 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.
Overview
Pumpkin pie filling being prepared
Cooked and puréed pumpkin flesh is mixed with eggs, evaporated milk, sugar, and spices.[4] The pie is then baked in a pie shell and sometimes topped with whipped cream.[5]
Pies made from fresh pumpkins typically use sugar pumpkins, also known as pie pumpkins, which measure about 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimetres) in diameter, approximately the size of a large grapefruit.[6] They are considerably smaller than the typically larger varieties used to carve jack o'lanterns, contain significantly less pulp, and have a less stringy texture.[6] Other pumpkin varieties or related winter squashes, such as butternut squash, are sometimes used. The flesh is cooked until soft and puréed before being blended with the other ingredients.
A slice of homemade pumpkin pie with whipped cream
The pumpkin is native to North America. The pumpkin was an early export to France; from there it was introduced to Tudor England, and the flesh of the "pompion" was quickly accepted as pie filling. During the seventeenth century, pumpkin pie recipes could be found in English cookbooks, such as Hannah Woolley's The Gentlewoman's Companion (1675).[12][13] Pumpkin "pies" made by early American colonists were more likely to be a savory soup made and served in a pumpkin[14] than a sweet custard in a crust. Pumpkins were also stewed and made into ale by colonists.[4] An early appearance of a more modern, custard-like pumpkin pie was in American Cookery, a cookbook published in 1796.[15] It used a sweet custard filling in a pie crust, with spices similar to the ones used today.
It was not until the early nineteenth century that the recipes appeared in Canadian[16] and American cookbooks[12] or that pumpkin pie became a common addition to the Thanksgiving dinner.[12] The Pilgrims brought the pumpkin pie back to New England,[17] while the English method of cooking the pumpkin took a different course. In the 19th century, the English pumpkin pie was prepared by stuffing the pumpkin with apples, spices, and sugar and then baking it whole.[18][19] In the United States after the Civil War, the pumpkin pie was resisted in Southern states as a symbol of Yankee culture imposed on the South, where there was no tradition of eating pumpkin pie.[20] Many Southern cooks instead made sweet potato pie, or added bourbon and pecans to give the pumpkin pie a Southern touch.[20]
Today, throughout much of Canada and the United States, it is traditional to serve pumpkin pie after Thanksgiving dinner.[21][22]
Pumpkin pies were discouraged from Thanksgiving dinners in the United States in 1947 as part of a voluntary egg rationing campaign promoted by the Truman Administration, mainly because of the eggs used in the recipe.[23][24] This was a part of President Truman's Citizen's Food Committee task force, designed to ration food consumption in the United States in hopes to provide more foreign food assistance to Europe post World War II.[24][23] Part of the campaign included an "Egg-less & Poultry-less Thursday", which began in October 1947, and with Thanksgiving Day always occurring on a Thursday, there was a considerable backlash among American consumers against this.[24] Truman was true to his word, and no pumpkin pie was served at the White House for Thanksgiving in 1947.[25]
Mathew Franklin Whittier, signing as "A Yankee," wrote in his poem "Song of the Pumpkin" (1846):[26]
Ah! on Thanksday, when from East and from West,
From North and from South comes the pilgrim and guest;
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored;
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before;
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye,
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?
Farewell, O fragrant pumpkin pie!
Dyspeptic pork, adieu!
Though to the college halls I hie.
On field of battle though I die, my latest sob, my latest sigh
shall wafted be to you!
And thou, O doughnut rare and rich and fried divinely brown!
Thy form shall fill a noble niche in memory's chamber whilst I pitch
my tent beside the river which rolls on through Kingston town.
And my Love—my little Nell,
the apple of my eye to thee how can I say farewell?
I love thee more than I can tell;
The popular Christmas song "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" contains the lyric, "Later we'll have some pumpkin pie/And we'll do some caroling".
"Sleigh Ride", another popular Christmas song, also mentions sitting around a fire after being out in the snow and eating pumpkin pie.
Records
The world's largest pumpkin pie was made in New Bremen, Ohio, at the New Bremen Pumpkinfest on September 25, 2010.[28][29] The pie consisted of 1,212 pounds (550 kilograms) of canned pumpkin, 109 US gallons (410 litres) of evaporated milk, 2,796 eggs, 7 lb (3.2 kg) of salt, 14+1⁄2 lb (6.6 kg) of cinnamon, and 525 lb (238 kg) of sugar.[28] The final pie weighed 3,699 lb (1,678 kg) and measured 20 ft (6 m) in diameter.[28]
Image gallery
A homemade pumpkin pie prepared using fresh pumpkin
Cross-section view of a commercially prepared pumpkin pie
A can of pureed pumpkin, typically used as the main ingredient in the pie filling
^Richardson, R. W. "Squash and Pumpkin"(PDF). United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. Archived from the original(PDF) on September 24, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
^ abcAndrew F. Smith, "Pumpkins", The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. Ed. Gordon Campbell. Oxford University Press, 2003. Saint Mary's College of California. December 21, 2011.
^Woolley, Hannah, The Gentlewoman's Companion ..., 3rd ed. (London, England: Edward Thomas, 1682), "Pumpion pye", pp. 220–221.
