>>>The Great Canned Pumpkin Shortage of 2009
When word began to leak in grocery stores of the canned pumpkin shortage plaguing this holiday season, baking enthusiasts hoped the chatter was a joke. And others, like Mike Sherrod, owner of the Pink Elephant Cafe, 301 E. Main St., couldn’t stifle their amusement, exploding into full-throttle laughter when approached with the news. Reality check: Those empty shelves aren’t a mean trick or a byproduct of haphazard stocking. This year, America is rationing its canned pumpkin. “It’s the Great Pumpkin Pie Shortage of 2009,” Sherrod said between laughs. “Maybe I should have invested in pumpkin futures.”<<<
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387381/posts
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Well, it appears that the commercial growers had the same rotting problem that I did...
Yesterday I made a pumpkinless pumpkin pie - Butternut Squash is every bit as good and tastes the same. Since I had a bumper crop of Butternuts, we will have no shortage of pumpkin pie here...
Want to make one the easy way? Just cut a butternut squash in half and scoop out the seeds, place the two halves on a plate with the cut side down, place it in the microwave and cook as you would a baked potato. (Or in the oven works just as well)
Once it is done, turn the halves over and let them cool a bit - then use an ice cream scoop or large spoon and scrape out all the flesh and put it into your blender. Add the other ingredients - eggs, flour, spices, milk (even powdered milk will work) and whirl it a few times and pour into your pie crust and bake as normal. Now how easy is that!
After trying that, why would I plant pumpkins? The Butternuts store better (they last all winter without being canned) and serve not only as a substitute for pumpkin, but are a great sweet potato substitute too.
Anyway, if you just have to have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and can’t get the pumpkin, give a butternut a try...
I agree with you on the butternut squash. I always thought that I had to have buttercup but they failed miserably this year and for the first time I had planted butternut along with a lot of buttercup. They seem to ripen faster in our short growing season and except for the paler color they are equally as good as buttercup. Guess what I’ll be planting the most of next year?
By the way, I picked the last of my everbearer strawberries on Oct. 21. Up until then, I was picking approximately one and a half quarts every three days. I think I will plant another 50 plants next spring and that should give me extra to share with family through the fall.
>>>The Great Canned Pumpkin Shortage of 2009<<<<<<<
Thanks for the link, amazing what we run out of, it is impossible to second guess them.
Sweet Potato and squash I knew made good pies, but I saw one post that said to use carrots.