Marcella Tracy Peek said:
You can make a good pumpkin pie from winter squash. (Most canned pumpkin
from the store isn't really from pumpkins anyway.)
I hear this occassionally. The labels don't seem to bear this out. The
ones I buy say "pumpkin" not "butternut squash" or some such. Given
that winter squashes and my stomach don't get along but pumpkin is ok,
you'd think I would respond to the canned squash masquerading as
pumpkin. So, where did you get them impression that "most canned
pumpkin isn't really from pumpkins".
The typical Halloween pumpkin is a squash in the species Cucurbita pepo (which
agrees with the Oxford English Dictionary definition of what a 'pumpkin' is).
They tend to be inferior cooked as they have been selected for shape, color,
and sturdiness in the face of the carving knife. There other strains of "pie
pumpkins" that make better eating.
However...
An acorn squash and a "typical" pumpkin are the same species (C. pepo).
So if you have problems with an acorn squash but can eat canned pumpkin,
there may be something in the processing that makes the difference.
Also consider that seed catalogs list as 'pumpkins' things that aren't the C. pepo
squashes that are the 'true pumpkins.' These include C. maxima types similar to
buttercups (including giant and white 'pumpkins.' 'Buckskin' is a type of
pumpkinish-looking C. moschata, or butternut, that is touted to farmers who grow
for processors because of its deep orange flesh and 'Cheese' (another butternut)
is very productive 'pumpkin' for processing. 'Neck pumpkins' or cushaws (C. mixta)
are long season squashes popular in the Southern states (though I grew a very
beautiful cushaw variety here in Michigan once).
*These last two species have the distinction of being resistant to squash vine
borers* a huge advantage compared with 'true pumpkins' in areas where borers
are a problem.
In the discussion of pumpkins at the following URL, the varieties mentioned for
pie include two pumpkins (C. pepo) and one butternut (Cheese), one buttercup
(Rouge Vif d'Etampes), and one cushaw. It also notes that "Cheese and Golden
Cushaw do not look like classical pumpkins, but may be easier to find in areas
with hotter climates. In general, these are sweeter than the Small Sugar pumpkins,
and are MORE OFTEN USED IN COMMERCIAL CANNING." [my emphasis]
http://www.ochef.com/847.htm
This University of Florida extension discussion of pumpkins makes it apparent
that the OED definition of 'pumpkin' (strictly limited to a variety of C. pepo) is not
the operating definition as far as current cultivation goes.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_MV116
And it is interesting (to me, anyway) that at this site the *photos* aren't of pumpkins
(by the strict definition) but of various squashes!
http://www.pumpkin-patch.com/varieties.html
(The flattened and ridged orange ones are Rouge Vif d'Etampes C. maxima), the
white one possibly Lumina (C. maxima) and the flattened tanned ones are Cheese
(C. moschata). The ridged green ones look like 'Fairy Tale' which I grew once. It's
a C. moschata squash that can take on a some tan and orange color as it matures.]
--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)
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