Canned Pumpkin Shortage

[MiraD]

It's true!  Now we need to convince friends/family/clients that it's not that hard to make their own by roasting a pumpkin and starting from scratch.  I already have my little sugar pumpkin waiting for next week.

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/libbys-warns-of-a-canned-pumpkin-shortage/

[Dixie]

Yea, me too.  I only had canned pumpkin at other people's houses.  I thought it was discusting!  There is nothing like the real thing!
My mom always used a real pumpkin to make pies and a German meatless meat pie type thing call Plaugenta (SP) that is one of my comfort foods when fall rolls around.
We also roasted the seeds, most of them anyway, some we dried and saved to plant next years pumpkins.
When I grew up and had my own gardens I did the same thing. 
I also composted and some of the seeds would end up in the compost.  They sprouted the following spring and produced the weirdest squash you' d ever seen!  When squash are hybrid they revert to something other than their own kind.  In Montana, many seeds were hybrid to accomodate the short growing season.
Dixie

[jodi f.]

Sweet winter squashes make wonderful pies. The flavor is more delicate, a little lighter than pumpkin, though many times people can't tell the difference. I especially like kabocha because of its sweetness and drier texture.

[Dixie]

Have you ever tried acorn squash in pie?
Dixie

[MiraD]

I have and don't really care for it.  Somehow it doesn't come out "right."  But butternut squash?  That's a totally different story.  And buttercup squash and hubbard squash Of course while not squash for another pumpkin pie filling substitute there is sweet potato and carrot (separately or together) which is fabulous,

[Nicole]

I just made a Delicata Squash Pie, and it came out beautifully! I roasted the squash and pureed it, skin and all, and the texture came out very very similar to pumpkin. The squash itself has a very delicate, spaghetti squash-like flavor, and paired well with pomegranate arils on top!