Pumpkins

The Perfect Pumpkin

| Flower Roberts

It’s the time of year when pumpkins are everywhere. All sizes, colors and textures are available. When I was kid, all pumpkins were orange. There were no colorful, bumpy designer hybrids.

Picking the perfect pumpkin was easier back then. There was one color, orange. There was one texture, smooth. There was one shape, round. So the choice was limited to the perfect size.

Traditional pumpkins and a ghosty goard.

Our home was controlled chaos back then. Mama taught middle school. My sis and I were in the marching band. There would be no pumpkin carving and lighting. A little pumpkin would do.

Too big!

There was no time or need to peruse a pumpkin patch. We just grabbed our little, round, smooth, orange pumpkin from the produce section of the grocery store.

So many choices!

The perfect pumpkin was about the size of a person’s head. We put it on the mantle for our Halloween decore. It looked great there, so we left it through the fall. Then Thanksgiving arrived. Our band marched in several parades as well as at most football games. We left the pumpkin on the mantle through that holiday.

The mantle with the pumpkin stain.

Some time before the Christmas holidays the perfect pumpkin started slumping. This new pumpkin posture went unnoticed for a while. Eventually its squatting was spotted.

We lifted the poor pumpkin out of its puddle of goo. We cleaned the wooden mantle as best we could, but a round, discolored mark remained.

That mark is still there on the left side of the mantle. That discoloration is a treasured sign of a home that was lived in. A busy family hurrying through the holidays ignored the pumpkin until it demanded attention by rotting.

There are lessons here. I hope one of the Enwood neighbors will pass this story along to the new owner, Zach.

He can hold his little girl up to see the spot and tell her the story of two little girls that grew up in that house long ago.

And the lessons? That is for him to puzzle. To pay attention to time passing. To know that perfection does not last. To enjoy things while they are fresh.   To know when its time to make a change. Whatever suits.

FLOWER

Pumpkin to Pie

| Flower Roberts

Pumpkins show up in my gardens due to our composting.

To show my appreciation, I eat them.

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This little pumpkin will make one pie.

I used a head-sized pumpkin for this post, which makes two pies.

Cut your pumpkin in half and remove pulp and seeds.

Soak this blob in water so as pull out the seeds more easily.

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Then rinse seeds in a colander. Dry them off a bit .

Toss with olive oil and salt. Spread seeds out on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. You should stir and re-spread these at least once during roasting.

Then place them in your preheating oven to roast while you make the pie filling.

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Slice up the pumpkin into 1 inch strips.  Place these into a pan with an inch or so of water. Cover an simmer until tender.

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Take slices out of water and let them cool some before trying to scrape the meat out of the skin.

Mash up the pumpkin flesh.  Measure it out into two-cup portions per pie.

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I add one can of evaporated milk, 2 beaten eggs,  and 3/4 cup brown sugar.

Spices may be one and a half teaspoons of pumpkin spice OR half a teaspoons each of ground cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.   Also, one half teaspoon of salt.  My version also adds a tablespoon of flour to firm up the filling.

I used frozen crusts that roll out into the pie pan.    Don’t hate me for this.  I don’t do crusts.

I like to add extra ingredients for texture and zing.  This can be sprinkling chopped nuts or coconut on top. Sometimes I add a half a teaspoon of orange flavoring. To sweeten them up, you can sprinkle raw sugar crystals on top.

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If you add extra ingredients, you will have too much filling.   Do not over-fill the crusts.  Put the extra filling in a small baking dish and bake it with the pies. (400 degrees for 40 minutes)

Your family can munch on the roasted seeds while the pies bake and then eat the little extra filling while the pies are cooling.

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These snacks help protect the pies you are trying to save for the company.

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FLOUR