Do you have any canned pumpkin in your pantry? If so, consider yourself lucky. Today in preparation for Thanksgiving I stopped by Walmart to pick up a couple quick cans of pumpkin. I wasn't the only one; two other women were down on their hands and knees searching behind the apple pie filling for any lost cans of pumpkin. Unfortunately they didn't find any. Another lady stopped and said she heard something about a pumpkin shortage due to wet fields. I stopped at another grocer and ran into the same situation. Luckily when I got home I found one large can of pumpkin in the pantry, enough to make two pumpkin pies. I guess that'll have to do.
And speaking of pumpkin pie here's a tasty recipe for making your own pumpkin pie spice. A lot of recipes I make this time of year use it, but boy is it expensive. I make my own and store in an airtight container.
Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/8 t. ginger
1/8 t. cloves
Obviously this makes 1 teaspoon. I always make a huge batch at a time, starting with 8-10 tsp. of cinnamon and then altering the recipe accordingly.
Not wanting to be a food snob, but being from a place where we regularly eat pumpkins as a savory food, and where pureed pumpkin is a standard homemade baby food (and is awesome broiled with cheese on toast, I find all the concern about the canned pumpkin shortage... bemusing!! I haven't made a pumpkin pie in ages, but i am not sure what is special about the canned pumpkin over fresh? Unless there is a fresh pumpkin shortage?
ReplyDeleteThis link has a method for making your own canned-pumpkin substitute: maybe quicker than hunting high and low for an elusive tin ;-)
http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/pumpkin-shortage-make-your-own-pumpkin.html
PS Happy Thanksgiving!
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