Simple Recipes from the Pumpkin Patch
By Marcia Passos Duffy
Before you start eyeing your 20 pound
Halloween pumpkin for a couple of pies,
hold onto your butcher knife: Not all
pumpkins are created equal for cooking.
There are carving pumpkins and eating
pumpkins. All pumpkins are edible but carving pumpkins have low sugar
levels...they also have thinner wall and are stringy. If you want to make a good
pie, what you need is the smaller – no larger than 5 pounds – and sweeter Sugar
or New England Pie varieties.
Amanda Thurber a 3rd generation farmer at Lilac Ridge Farm, a certified pick-
your-own organic farm in Brattleboro, VT, also likes the New England Pie
variety, but adds that the deep red-orange Cinderella (also called Rouge Vif
d'Estampes – this variety was the prototype for Cinderella's carriage pumpkin),
and Long Island Cheese (one of the classic pumpkins of the 19th century) are her
favorites for cooking. Red Kuri, while technically a squash, is also her preferred
gourd for making pies (this variety originated in Japan).
While Thurber would not make a pie with a carving pumpkin, she does not rule
it out for other foods: “You could cook a Jack o’Lantern (variety)…it’s not sweet
or flavorful and it’s stringy. But it would be good pureed for soups or pumpkin
bread,” she says. (See Pumpkin Puree recipe, below)
As for recipes, pumpkin farmers admit that cooking pumpkins – or anything for
that matter -- during pumpkin season is relegated to the simplest dishes. “We’re
too busy harvesting,” says Robert Frizzell who, along with his wife, Polly, grows
30 acres of pumpkins at Peachblow Farm in Charlestown, NH to sell wholesale.
“When you’re in the middle of this, there's no time to make pumpkin-anything!”
he says. “We do what everybody else does at this time of year – we put them
outside on the steps.”
I did manage to pry some simple recipe from these farmers. Here are some of
their recipes and links to other pumpkin recipes:
Lilac Ridge Farm’s Red Kuri Soup Recipe
Pumpkin Puree Recipe
Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe
Pumpkin Vinaigrette Recipe
Decadent Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin Bread
Want to know some interesting facts about pumpkins? Check out the
Pumpkin Primer.
About the Author:
Marcia Passos Duffy, is a freelance writer & author, and the publisher of The
Heart of New England online magazine, a free monthly online publication that
celebrates the unique character of northern New England. Get recipes delivered
to your email every Monday, subscribe today by sending a blank email to
heartofnewengland-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
By Marcia Passos Duffy
Before you start eyeing your 20 pound
Halloween pumpkin for a couple of pies,
hold onto your butcher knife: Not all
pumpkins are created equal for cooking.
There are carving pumpkins and eating
pumpkins. All pumpkins are edible but carving pumpkins have low sugar
levels...they also have thinner wall and are stringy. If you want to make a good
pie, what you need is the smaller – no larger than 5 pounds – and sweeter Sugar
or New England Pie varieties.
Amanda Thurber a 3rd generation farmer at Lilac Ridge Farm, a certified pick-
your-own organic farm in Brattleboro, VT, also likes the New England Pie
variety, but adds that the deep red-orange Cinderella (also called Rouge Vif
d'Estampes – this variety was the prototype for Cinderella's carriage pumpkin),
and Long Island Cheese (one of the classic pumpkins of the 19th century) are her
favorites for cooking. Red Kuri, while technically a squash, is also her preferred
gourd for making pies (this variety originated in Japan).
While Thurber would not make a pie with a carving pumpkin, she does not rule
it out for other foods: “You could cook a Jack o’Lantern (variety)…it’s not sweet
or flavorful and it’s stringy. But it would be good pureed for soups or pumpkin
bread,” she says. (See Pumpkin Puree recipe, below)
As for recipes, pumpkin farmers admit that cooking pumpkins – or anything for
that matter -- during pumpkin season is relegated to the simplest dishes. “We’re
too busy harvesting,” says Robert Frizzell who, along with his wife, Polly, grows
30 acres of pumpkins at Peachblow Farm in Charlestown, NH to sell wholesale.
“When you’re in the middle of this, there's no time to make pumpkin-anything!”
he says. “We do what everybody else does at this time of year – we put them
outside on the steps.”
I did manage to pry some simple recipe from these farmers. Here are some of
their recipes and links to other pumpkin recipes:
Lilac Ridge Farm’s Red Kuri Soup Recipe
Pumpkin Puree Recipe
Pumpkin Pancakes Recipe
Pumpkin Vinaigrette Recipe
Decadent Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin Bread
Want to know some interesting facts about pumpkins? Check out the
Pumpkin Primer.
About the Author:
Marcia Passos Duffy, is a freelance writer & author, and the publisher of The
Heart of New England online magazine, a free monthly online publication that
celebrates the unique character of northern New England. Get recipes delivered
to your email every Monday, subscribe today by sending a blank email to
heartofnewengland-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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