Strange but True: Pumpkin Pie From Pumpkins

Dan Van Groningen wants you to know that you can make a pie from his pumpkins. He did it Sunday.

“It was the first time ever,” he said. “I baked up a prize-winner, an 80-pounder. And you know what? It eats well.”

Van Groningen’s lack of pumpkin-baking experience is worth comment only because of his family business. Van Groningen and Sons (he’s a son) has been growing pumpkins, watermelon and sweet corn in Manteca, in the San Joaquin Valley, for 35 years.

“I just got tired of people asking me all the time if they could bake these pumpkins, so I just figured I’d give it a try,” he says. “I cut a wedge from the wall, cleaned it and chopped it and cooked it and baked it into a pie--with my wife looking over my shoulder, of course.”

Still, he figures never having baked a pumpkin put him squarely in the mainstream of American cooks. “Almost all of our pumpkins are destined for jack-o’-lanterns,” he says. “I don’t think many of them are baked for pies. It’s just so easy to go to town and buy a can of pumpkin filling and a Mrs. Smith crust.”

Of course, he says, what you’re getting when you buy a can of pumpkin filling may not be pure pumpkin. “They use a lot of banana squash and a lot of butternut squash in those mixes. I don’t think they use a lot of pumpkin.”

If you want to try baking a pie from pure pumpkin, look for varieties called pie pumpkins or sugar pumpkins. They are usually a little paler and a good bit smaller than the jack-o’-lantern giants.

For any recipe using pumpkin, though, you’re probably better off following the lead of the pumpkin packers and using a different winter squash. Pumpkin has a stringier texture and a less-intense flavor than we have come to expect from the canned product. Butternut, banana and Asian kabocha squashes all make good substitutes.

Van Groningen says this year’s pumpkin harvest looks pretty good, both for cooks and for carvers. “There was a little problem with heat for a short time, but then the weather got down to normal, so we were OK.”

Retail pumpkin prices last week were in the 25- to 30-cent per-pound range, but some chains will be discounting them this week as Halloween specials.