October 29, 2022
Pumpkins
We love pumpkins. You cut off the bottom, scoop out everything inside and scrape all the yummy meat out (save it for roasted seeds and pumpkin pie!), decorate it with a silly face, and put a candle inside – now it’s an amazing nightlight that smells oh-so-good!
The first pumpkin I opened up with Grandma Jeanette; she was teaching me how to make her pumpkin pie. My Daddy had told us long ago that the reason for the perfect pale color in most commercial pumpkin pies was due to the company using a hard squash instead of pumpkin. Pumpkin cooks darker than winter squash. Grandma Jeanette used everything. I loved learning things from her because I can’t stand waste. She came from the generation and grew up using everything! Nothing was ever thrown away. I loved that.
Anyway, back to the pumpkin. She opened it from the top with a big knife. I was expecting puree like when you open a “pumpkin pack” tin can. Nope. Stringy spongy looking guts with spots of seeds reminded me of thick orange spiderwebs. Grandma Jeanette took all that stuff and scraped with her big metal spoon until the wall was very thin. Stringy stuff and tiny shavings that looked like slivers went into a big pot with a little bacon grease in the bottom. She had a really cool method of basically pulling on the strings and all the seeds practically fell onto a pan on the counter. She picked a few out. (I have never been able to duplicate that easy seed removal and wondered later if she picked a specific type of pumpkin!) Seeds got tossed around in an oil and spice mixture and roasted in the oven. The big chunks of hard pumpkin wall (not the actual skin, just the “wall” scrapings from inside) got chopped into smaller hunks and tossed in the pot with the strings and shavings. Water added to the pot. It was covered and cooked in a pressure cooker for however long we were sitting and chatting on the couch while the seeds roasted.
When the lid came off, the strings and hunks had blended into a watery orange soup. Grandma churned that around with her blender (it got handed down to me years later and had been manufactured in the 40s!) until it was smooth and now it looked like a darker cousin of the canned pumpkin I was so used to seeing.
Now that was pumpkin pack!
When Grandma Jeanette did it with me that year, she made all of it into pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas as family and friends always gathered at her house. She froze the ones to save for Christmas. I loved the heavenly smell! She taught me some tricks about the pastry dough. She sometimes short-cutted by buying premade dough, which she would prick with a fork, paint with butter and sprinkle with a bit of sugar on the edges to give it a “homemade” taste. For my scratch recipe, she showed me how to layer and roll so it would be flakey. Cold butter shaved into the mix. Don’t overmix. Don’t over roll. NEVER freeze your scratch pastry. Always bake the whole pie and then freeze – but it’s always best fresh. It’s super fast and easy to make anyway, so I LOVE making pastry dough from scratch.
This is why I am transported into happy memories when I see a pumpkin. I remember bumping around the kitchen with little Christina, Becky, and assorted cousins in and out of the house as we laughed and I listened to Grandma Jeanette’s stories.
When I cut a pumpkin, I make pumpkin pack, but I don’t bake 12 to 16 pies the same day. I use the canning pot and tools (all hand-me-downs from Grandma Jeannette, we still reuse some of her jars as well) to can the pumpkin pack for later pies. 1 pint makes one deep-dish pumpkin pie. 1 quart makes 2 deep dishes or 3 flat pies. I love the whole process! My plan each holiday season always includes a pumpkin and pumpkin pack and from-scratch pastry to make pumpkin pies. I tell the stories of Grandma Jeanette and Christina, Becky, and the cousins bringing critters (lizards, toads, etc) into the kitchen and being told how cool they were before being shooed “back where they belong” to “take them home to their families,” yes, that’s why I say that about insects and critters my children capture. I tell stories of our family because it feels so natural to do that while I’m canning. Grandma Jeanette taught me to can. She gave me our tiny library of books and pamphlets about canning, storing Florida produce, and food safety (old publications that came from St Johns County, University of Florida, and Ball, Inc with dates ranging from 1928 to 1965).
Louis carves the pumpkin shell with the girls. They love it! If you open from the bottom, you can replace the candle easier and you can sprinkle cinnamon on the top (while the pumpkin is upside down and let it sit to sink in) and it will stick and make the house smell so good!
Pumpkins make me think of family. Pumpkins make me smile because of the memories I have and the memories I hope I create for my family. What food makes you think of happy memories?
Type at you next time!
~Nancy Tart