Pumpkin Pie

I'm not exactly sure when I decided that I wanted to learn how to cook, I mean really cook...to know how things are done from beginning to end.

It started maybe 8 years ago. I decided I was going to make a pumpkin pie from scratch. I wanted to start with the pumpkin and everything! I was curious about how different it would taste by using a fresh pumpkin verses canned pumpkin, although I hadn't ever made a pie from canned pumpkin so I don't really know what I expected.

So, I started with my pumpkin. It was a pretty big one. It would have made a great Jack-0-Lantern. A couple of years later that I found out that there was such a thing as a "pie" pumpkin. But I digress...

I put that pumpkin up on the counter and began cleaning it out and cutting it up into pieces to roast in the oven. Cutting a large pumpkin into 2" pieces is not easy work. I remember this taking me almost an hour. However, I was not discouraged.

So, after roasting, peeling and the mashing my pumpkin, I was ready to make the pie. Now, this is not a blog about my favorite pumpkin pie recipe, so I will not be sharing any pie recipes. In fact, I remember this particular pie very well because it looked beautiful but...well...it tasted awful! I was so disappointed that I had spent the better part of an afternoon on something that really just needed to be thrown away.

It could have, in fact, been the recipe I used, but I'm pretty sure it was the pumpkin. You see, most decorative pumpkins, although edible, aren't really edible. In our quest for bigger, rounder, flatter bottom pumpkins, we've sacrificed the mild flavor for bitterness and a creamy flesh for stringy flesh.

Now that we are on the farm and I have a garden, I grow my own pumpkins. They are a small, sugar variety. I can't tell you the exact variety, because I did not save the original package of seeds, and I save the seeds from year to year so that I don't have to buy more. I use this pumpkin to make pumpkin bread (thank you Aunt Jan for your wonderful recipe), pumpkin cheesecake, and pumpkin rolls. NO pumpkin pies...I just buy those at the store.