The 1896 Original Fanny Famer Cookbook contains only one recipe for pumpkin … Pumpkin Pie.

According to the instructions, “Pumpkin Pie, [is] made the same as Squash Pie, using pumpkin in place of squash.” [With instructions like that, who needs the Food Channel?!]

Squash Pie:
1 ¼ cup steamed and strained squash
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg OR
½ teaspoon lemon extract
1 egg
7/8 cup milk

Mix sugar, salt, and spice or extract, add squash, egg slightly beaten, and milk gradually. Bake in one crust, following directions for Custard Pie. If a richer pie is desired, use one cup squash, one-half cup each of milk, and cream, and an additional egg yolk. [Apparently, cholesterol was not a problem in 1896.]

Then, of course, we refer to the directions for Custard Pie:
Beat eggs slightly, add sugar, salt, and milk. Line plate with paste, and build up a fluted rim. Strain in the mixture and sprinkle with few gratings nutmeg. Bake in quick oven at first to set rim, decrease the heat afterwards, as egg and milk in combination need to be cooked at low temperature. [The end. Finally.]

I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll go to the nearest bakery and pick up a pie. In fact, I behave so badly now that I no longer carve a jack-o-lantern. Instead, I recycle a permanent carved foam pumpkin from Hobby Lobby with a light in it. No more pumpkin slime for this gal. If you are as busy as I am, it’s not a bad way to go.

Enjoy your fall, and Halloween too!

Joyce Lohse, 10/21/2008
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