WHEN THE FROST IS ON.
This Fall we have been enjoying a special pie at our house. It goes quickly, once it is un-ovened, cooled a bit, sliced and it is known - while it lasts – by several names.
They look like pumpkin pie; they smell like pumpkin pies, they taste like pumpkin pies making use of the sense of logic with which we are blessed , it can be said that - if something looks like; smells like and tastes like pumpkin pie - it just has to be - well, now! Not too fast there, Buster! The experienced farm folks who raise and bring these things to us when we order pumpkins call them “Squash”. Specifically they often call them “Winter Squash” even though they grow in the Pumpkin Patch right along with the other bright orange globes, balls, nubbins and flattened-out styles If you want “squash” - real squash - Yellow Crook Neck, Patty Pan, Strait Yellow, or other strange-named types, you gotta go up to the vegetable garden where they grow. Squash grow in the garden; pumpkins in the ”Punkin' Patch”.
I have inquired into the matter and I find that we are all wrong. We are actually talking about gourds.
Pumpkins and squash are each types of gourds. We are concerned only with those which are considered to be edible. It might be likened to automobiles. They all do pretty much the same thing,but there are lots of different brands with peculiar characteristics . We choose the one we like best; the one that best meets our income level,our needs and soothes our desires somewhat. Some of the far-out models such as the tricycle DAVIS three-wheeler made in California for a few years,don't get much attention.
I was rather surprised to find that many chefs prefer using squash rather than pumpkin in making Pumpkin Pies. The result is a pie which is less fibrous. smoother and has a soft taste. I have long used the term pumpkin pie in a general sense to include squash pies and sweet potato pies. The creations can be different but it is the butter,spices, sugar and other such “accessories” which actually determine what the final creation is to become in the final moment in the oven.
I though I had settled the pumpkin,but this year also introduced a new note in the discussion which is going to be a doozie. It sounds silly,but I have had people ask me if a pumpkin a vegetable or a fruit? It can't be both. I hold with “veggie” but I think I'll sit this one out and just eat pumpkin pie regardless of its internal construction specifications.
Pumpkin makes a good soup, too,in case you haven't tried it; and the old folks used to enjoy it as a spread for bread - sweet pumpkin pulp with unflavored gelatin added. Good!
A.L.M November 18, 2004 [c486wds]
