World Cuisine - United States

The history of pumpkin pie goes way back to the 1600s. According to Linda Stradley at What's Cooking America website,  the first possible sort of pumpkin pie was likely in 1621 when early American settlers of Plimoth Plantation (1620-1692), the first permanent European settlement in southern New England, might have made pumpkin pies (of sorts) by making stewed pumpkins or by filling a hollowed out shell with milk, honey and spices, and then baking it in hot ashes. An actual present-day pumpkin pie with crust is a myth, as ovens to bake pies were not available in the colony at that stage.

Then, 1651 - Francois Pierre la Varenne, the famous French chef and author of one of the most important French cookbooks of the 17th century, wrote a cookbook called Le Vrai Cuisinier Francois (The True French Cook). It was translated and published in England asThe French Cook in 1653. It has a recipe for a pumpkin pie that included the pastry:

• Tourte of pumpkin - Boile it with good milk, pass it through a straining pan very thick, and mix it with sugar, butter, a little salt and if you will, a few stamped almonds; let all be very thin. Put it in your sheet of paste; bake it. After it is baked, besprinkle it with sugar and serve.
  

In modern times, the pumpkin pie has become a staple on the American table at Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas as well. Along with the bounty of winter squash season, so many pumpkin spice flavored dishes and beverages appear and take over for a few months during the cold winter.

Here is my favorite pumpkin pie recipe that has worked very well for me with any kind of winter squash available at the CSA,  courtesy of Erin Boyle from the blog reading my tea leaves which I love to follow.

Here is another pumpkin recipe I would like to try very soon, it's pumpkin scones with cinnamon butter... 

I hope you are all enjoying the harvest season, and with lots of pumpkin available for Halloween coming up, don’t waste the flesh of the pumpkin! You can make an awesome pumpkin pie.

- Yumi Zaic

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