Posted in The Homestead

This is a plea to all you Pumpkin Pie loving Americans. I have about 12 huge pumpkins that I grew this year and I'm very proud of too - they looked soooo pretty in my garden with their beautiful orange skins and lovely shape, but they taste awful! It was an American variety that I planted and I think it's the type that you mostly use for decoration - now I know why you don't eat the flesh!! We kiwis are used to the smaller, sweeter, grey-skinned pumpkins that are so yummy when roasted or boiled or made into soup. I have tried these orange pumpkins all those ways, and boiled is about the only way that is slightly palatable.

So, I'm thinking that they are probably the type of pumpkin that is best for pumpkin pies, which we love as well, but again, have always used the sweeter type of pumpkin and probably the sugar and spice has been adjusted to match that. So I'm pleading with anyone who bakes pumpkin pies from scratch over there in the USA - could you, would you, P L E A S E (I'm begging here), share your recipe with me? I think I need oodles of sugar and spice.

Incidentally, I have always cut a pumpkin straight through the middle (from the top down) with a sharp knife. It is always a job I hate as I'm nervous the knife is going to slip and I'll stab myself, and if my husband is around I get him to do it, and I stand well out of the way; but I happened to be watching an episode of The Waltons the other night (I love the Waltons), and saw Grandma cut the top of a pumpkin from the side near the stem - how great is that! That is a revolutionary, life-saving (literally) idea for this kiwi-gal, and I tried it and it was so easy!