Pumpkin Pie

“What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter? Pumpkin Pi.”

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As you sit down to that food-laden Thanksgiving dinner, take a moment in time and thank the Wampanoag tribe in what is now Massachusetts. The Wampanoag and the Plymouth colonists ate wild turkey. So what about what we call today dessert? In 1653, the second feast of the colonists and Native Americans came the Pumpkin Pie.

The pumpkin is native to North America. The pumpkin was exported to France, then to Tudor England as was accepted. In England, the “pie” was made of fried pumpkin slices combined with apple slices with sugar, and spice, and baked between two crusts.  In 1796, Amelia Simmons’ “American Cookery”, the first cookbook written by an American and published in America, appeared, introducing pumpkin pie as we know it today.

Amelia gives two recipes:

“Pompkin.

No. 1. One quart stewed and strained, 3 pints cream, 9 beaten eggs, sugar, mace, nutmeg, and ginger, laid into paste No. 7 or 3, and with a dough spur, cross and chequer it, and baked in dishes three quarters of an hour.

No. 2. One quart of milk, 1 pint pompkin, 4 eggs, molasses, allspice, and ginger in a crust, bake 1 hour.

So how did those first settlers make what they called pumpkin pies? Stewing the pumpkins and filled a hollowed out pumpkin shell with milk, honey, and various spices, and baked in hot ashes.

Tilly: It’s worth reading this article about the spices. https://www.thefoodhistorian.com/blog/the-secret-history-of-pumpkin-pie-spice

The Northeastern Native tribes brought pumpkins as gifts to those first settlers, and it was those same native tribes that taught them the many uses of pumpkin. Because of the Native tribes teaching those settlers how to use the pumpkin, 50 years after that first Thanksgiving in America, the “pie” was developed.

Although a version of this pie was made and served in France and England, today most Europeans do not like it. I learned that after living overseas for 10 years.

Tilly: I learned I did not much like it when we were invited to celebrate Thanksgiving while in New York. Great day with terrific company and mountains of food … all of which was excellent. Except for the pumpkin side dish – with marshmallows on top. It was horrible. The pumpkin pie was oh-so sweet and tasteless apart from the sugar, which swamped the light spicing.

We were also ‘inveigled’ into trying it when out at a restaurant with clients. The pie had more texture and was less sweet, but only carried by the spicing, which was genteel to say the least.

Essentially, with apologies to all my American friends, I second Garrison Keillor: ‘Pumpkin pie is a living symbol of mediocrity. The best pumpkin pie you ever ate wasn’t all that much different from the worst pumpkin pie you ever ate.’

Pumpkin pie is truly American. So enjoy and don’t forget to thank those Native Americans for teaching this to those first settlers.

Tilly: The pie later became a staple of American Thanksgiving celebrations, solidified by Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation making Thanksgiving a national holiday.

Wiikipedia: 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.

Enjoy this recipe, or just go to the store and buy one already made like I do now.

Pumpkin Pie Recipe from 1861.

Tilly: The invention of canned pumpkin by Libby’s in 1929 made pumpkin pie much more convenient for home bakers, contributing to its enduring popularity.

This old-fashioned pumpkin pie recipe comes from an old cookbook called The Young Housekeeper’s Friend published in 1861. This pie has a light and sweet pumpkin flavor with a hint of spice.

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup pumpkin puree

¾ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

½ Tbs. butter

2 cups milk (I used whole milk)

Pie pastry for a single crust 9 inch pie

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare your favorite pie crust recipe and set the dough aside in a cool place while you prepare the filling.

Put the milk into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Then add the butter and let it melt into the hot milk. Once the butter has melted, set aside the pan to cool.

Put the pumpkin in a large mixing bowl and add the spices and salt to the pumpkin. Stir well, then add the sugar and stir again.

Add half of the milk to the bowl and stir the mixture. Then add the other half of the milk and stir again.

In another small bowl, beat the eggs for a minute or two, and then add them to the bowl and stir well to combine.

Line a 9-inch pie plate with your favorite pie pastry and pour the pumpkin mixture into the pie plate.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 55 minutes or until the pie has a slight wobble when you shake it. You can also insert a knife into the pie to see if it comes out clean. Doing this will probably leave a visible line in the pie, but you can cover that up with some decorative pie crust leaves made from scraps of pie dough if you like.

Tilly: I will attempt to redeem myself with this:

Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West, From North and South, come 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 lips and what brightens the eye? What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin pie?

John Greenleaf Whittier

Olive and Tilly