FOOD & TRADITION: Pumpkin Pie

WHAT: Only one of my favorite deserts of all times: the pumpkin pie. The pumpkin is a squash fruit native to the Western Hemisphere that grows on a gourd. The pie itself is a pumpkin custard that has been baked in a pie crust with no crust on top; it's most often flavored with all the goodness of nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, cloves, and ginger, and served with whipped cream. Thank goodness for the holidays.

WHY: There's a saying in the United States: "As American as apple pie." What? What do you mean, "as American as apple pie??" Apple pies have been made since Chaucer's time. It's really the PUMPKIN pie that's more unique to the Americas. Don't get me wrong, I love apple pie, but pumpkin pie holds a gold medal in my heart for this time of year.

It's at this time of the year in North America that we start to eat pumpkin pies, and I recently baked one to satisfy the craving. The pumpkin was given to the pilgrims as gifts, and is thought to have been warmly received by them only during their first harsh winter, when half of the poor sods perished due to scurvy and exposure. As most American school children are taught, the natives taught the pilgrims many uses for the pumpkin. But it wasn't until about 50 years later, when ovens allowed for baking were in use with the settlers, that the first pumpkin pies as we know them began to be cooked.

As winter approaches and snow begins to fall in many parts of the world, "coziness" comes to mind and I begin to think about all of the great deserts I have tasted world-wide. Although Los Angeles' "snowy" weather will be occasional rainfall and a light-sweater requirement that interrupts 80-degree weather, things like pumpkin pie can - for a moment - remind us of the good things in life. Each spoonful is like traveling to the north, to those magical IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE moments created in movie worlds.

Even as a Californian, though, nothing says autumn or winter like pumpkin pie.

My international readers can get canned pumpkin from Amazon or a local American food store and make their own pie; it's not difficult. To get a full history of pumpkin pie, see: http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/PieHistory/PumpkinPie.htm

/sms