The Pumpkin Crisis (Part 1 of 3)

Christmas may be the time of year that “visions of sugarplums dance in our heads,” but first things first. When autumn arrives, it’s all about pumpkins: Pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes and, of course, pumpkin pie. Oh, how I look forward to fall baking.

But it’s already October, and a funny thing has happened. Last week, and much to my surprise, my neighborhood market was out of canned pumpkin. I thought that was kind of weird but didn’t give it much thought. I just figured I would pick it up the next time I was in the market. SURPRISE! Still, no canned pumpkin.

Catching my eye as I perused last Saturday’s “Los Angeles Times,” a most shocking headline: “Pumpkin pie filling is getting scarce on grocer’s shelves.” What? The article, written by Jerry Hirsch, alerted me that our local supermarkets have been put on “allocation system” by Libby’s (a division of food giant Nestle) that controls more than 80% of the canned pumpkin market.

The article explained that a heavy rainy season last year was responsible for the shortage. I also learned that prices would be higher than last year. This was getting serious!

Interesting! I’m used to making pies and breads from scratch but not that “scratch.” I remembered my mother once making a pumpkin pie, using a whole pumpkin that she had cut-up, boiled and mashed. To be honest, I have no recollection of the pie itself. What I do recall isn’t pretty…a stringy mess on the counter, my mother frustrated and the house smelling like squash for days afterwards.

For the record, it should be noted that my mom makes an incredible lemon meringue pie, a pretty good apple pie and was rather crafty making a plum pie (which none of us really liked too much but props to mom for trying!)

So the question is… do I wait hopefully for canned pumpkin (and then hoard it for holiday baking) or attempt to make a pumpkin pie from scratch?

I think I’ll make one from scratch. More later….