By Ferdinand Bernhard Vietz.
Is there a recipe that immediately makes you think of the month of November? Pumpkin pie is certainly that recipe for me! One thing I like most about Thanksgiving is pumpkin pie. I grew up in a house of pumpkin pie lovers and absolutely no Thanksgiving was complete without a nap and a massive slice of pumpkin pie. I usually eat cold pumpkin pie for breakfast on Black Friday.
Was pumpkin pie served at the first Thanksgiving? If you know anything about food history, you may have already guessed that the answer to this question is no! The early European settlers used the native pumpkin to make pumpkin ale and stewed pumpkin as a vegetable. Pumpkins are native to North America and have been cultivated for over 5,000 years.
In the 1800’s pumpkin pie became a symbol of the abolition movement. Pumpkins might seem like an unassuming emblem of anti-slavery, but there was a deep-rooted reasoning as to why they represented the abolitionist cause. Because pumpkins were a crop that grew easily and required very little labor for cultivation and harvest, pumpkin farming operated as the opposite of the plantation economies of the South where cash crops like cotton, sugar, and tobacco were being mass-produced through exploitative slave labor.
Beyond boycotting plantation crops, supporting industries that had no slave labor in the economic equation was an even more overt means of supporting the anti-slavery movement. New England abolitionists popularized the pumpkin pie as edible propaganda, and this new favored dessert was specifically highlighted in anti-slavery literature of the period. Abolitionist writer Lydia Maria Child included an ode to pumpkin pie in her poem “Over the River and Through the Wood”, ended with the line, “Hurrah for the pumpkin-pie!”
As the issue of slavery brought America’s North and South into the Civil War, the pumpkin pie and all it represented remained at the heart of this national conflict. When, in the midst of the war, President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, the decree sparked more division between regions, rather than the unity the holiday was supposed to represent.
Northern Unionists embraced this new holiday and pumpkin pie took a center stage for the meal. Confederates in the South, however, were reluctant to celebrate something in the middle of the war that had such deep ties to New England tradition. Regarding this new national holiday as a means of imposing northern values, many southern households refused to acknowledge, let alone celebrate Thanksgiving.
After the Civil War, during the Reconstruction, Thanksgiving took its place as a national holiday. Still, some southern states boycotted pumpkin pie, serving sweet potato pie instead.
The first recorded recipe for pumpkin pie was found in a 1621 cookbook called “American Cookery” by Amelia Simmons. This early recipe called for a filling made with cooked pumpkin, sweetened with honey and spices, and baked in a pastry crust. Over time, the recipe for pumpkin pie continued to evolve, with the addition of new ingredients such as sweetened condensed milk and the development of new cooking techniques.
The making of pumpkin pie was revolutionized with the invention of canned, pre-cooked pumpkin by Libby’s in 1929. This revolutionized pumpkin pie because it streamlined the baking process. While pumpkins may have been easy to grow, they were not easy to prepare. Prior to Libby’s canned pumpkin, to prepare a pumpkin for pie was time-consuming and labor-intensive. First, a pumpkin had to be skinned and gutted, then cooked for 6-8 hours before it was in any way ready to become pie filling.
You can buy a good pumpkin pie in grocery stores. The Costco and Sam’s bakeries both have big pumpkin pies for about $6. Most frozen pumpkin pies are good too. But pumpkin pie is one of the easiest pies to make.
Our recipes this week include the one my dad made every year. Dad made two pies every Wednesday before Thanksgiving, one for the holiday meal and one for the day after.
So, whether you make your pie or buy it, then share it with friends and family, or eat it cold in your pj’s on the day after Thanksgiving, enjoy it!
J.W.’s Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Directions
Gather all ingredients. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Fit pie crust into a 9-inch pie dish and place it on a baking sheet. Combine pumpkin puree, condensed milk, eggs, and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl; mix until combined. Pour mixture into the pie crust. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake until filling is set, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, set on a wire rack, and cool completely before serving.
No Bake Marshmallow Pumpkin Pie
Servings8
Ingredients
1 bag (10 oz) large marshmallows
1 cup pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon salt
1 carton (8 oz) Cool Whip (thawed)
1 (6 oz) store-bought graham cracker crust
Instructions
In a sauce pan, over low or medium-low heat, combine the large marshmallows, pure pumpkin, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Stirring very frequently, let it melt and mix together until it’s smooth and combined. Transfer the hot pumpkin mixture into a mixing bowl and let it cool down to room temperature. About 30 minutes or more if needed. Once cooled, add the carton of thawed Cool Whip and stir together until completely combined and much lighter in color. Pour the pumpkin pie filling inside the graham cracker crust and spread it out evenly. Cover the pie with the enclosed lid from the crust and put it in the fridge for at least 8 hours to thicken up and come together. Or refrigerate overnight (preferred). Serve the marshmallow pie topped with whipped cream (spray can, Cool Whip or homemade) and slice! You can also dollop whipped cream on top of each slice when serving, rather than the entire pie.
Homemade Whipped Cream: To replace the Cool Whip, add 1.5 cups heavy whipping cream + 1/3 cup powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Beat on low speed, increasing the speed as needed, until stiff peaks form. This takes about 4-5 minutes. Use all of this in place of the Cool Whip in the recipe. No Bake Pie Tip: As with any no bake pie, you can make this pie several days ahead of time. This pie actually gets better with more fridge time and several readers have commented that they prefer it on day 2! So, you can easily make the pie 1-2 days ahead of time and get that prep work out of the way. I don’t recommend storing the pie with the whipped cream on top of it. It will loosen and get runny. Pure Pumpkin: Make sure you are using 100% pure pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling.
