Asheville Eats Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holidays and as my posts from last year revealed with exuberance, I love this time of year. There's something rejuvenating about spending a month and a half surrounding yourself with the people you love most. In my case, that's a large immediate family, a larger extended family, and the risk of getting whopped by grandma with a shillelagh if we get too sassy. The kids run around laughing and chasing each other and the adults exchange stories and make favorite drinks for each other until grandma finally calls the meal to order and reminds everyone present of the value of family, hard work, and how lucky we are to be in America and together. Regardless of the volume level of your own holiday get-togethers, it's generally a time that is looked forward to. Naturally, and especially in my own clan, a major part of that is food - particularly dessert.

A favorite of many families at this time of the year is pumpkin pie, but why make a pie from a can when you aren't even sure what half the words on the back mean and you could support local farmers and buy fresh? In our own experimentation with pumpkin pie recipes, my family found that we prefer the squattish-ly shaped white (sometimes they have a very pale golden color) pumpkins for our pie filling. We also especially liked that, according to the farmers we spoke to, white pumpkins are a genetic descendant of the pumpkins that grew wild in America 

and are therefore probably what settlers and pioneers used in their own cooking! Another tweak we found between recipes was the spices used for the filling. Depending on how "spiced" you like your pie to be. You can also add 1/4-1/2 teaspoons cloves, allspice or cardamon. You should keep in mind though, that the more variety you add, the less of each spice you'll probably want. My final tip is that you do not want to taste pumpkin pie filling before it is cooked! It's a delicious filling, but only after it's been completely baked. Before, it's what could be called disgusting.

Like anything made from scratch, it's worth the effort, but can take a couple tries to get it right. I know I said before I had finished giving my advice on this recipe, but I have one more tip to offer. Make a pie or two (maybe a small one, to use less ingredients per pie) before Thanksgiving so that on the big day, you know you have a dessert worth eating. Enjoy playing around with the recipe and finding your family's favorite way to make and eat this delicious tradition!