There’s an old song, you all know it, called “Over the River and Through the Woods” that will get a lot of play on the radio in the next couple of weeks. A family is traveling to Grandma’s house in a horse-drawn sleigh for Christmas. That says something about how old it is, right?
The last verse of the song goes like this (sing along if you’d like):
“Over the river and through the woods,
Now Grandma’s cap I spy.
Hurrah for fun; the pudding’s done;
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie.”
In “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays,” there’s a guy returning to his family’s home in Pennsylvania and looking forward to some pumpkin pie. Another popular Christmas song, “Sleigh Ride,” mentions sitting around a fire and eating pumpkin pie after being out in the snow. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” contains the lyric, “Later we’ll have some pumpkin pie, And we’ll do some caroling.”
The last line of “Over the River…” is what gets me: “Hurrah for the pumpkin pie.” When we were walking through Costco a week ago, we went past the display of their famous pumpkin pies. Did you know that Costco’s pumpkin pie has a Facebook page? Check it out. I read an article that said Costco makes 4.7 million pumpkin pies every fall. They made their first pies in 1987 and sold them for $5.99. In 1993, they increased the size of the pies (12 inches and 3.5 pounds!) and didn’t change the price. “Hurrah for the pumpkin pie.”
The emphasis placed on pumpkins in the fall and early winter is ubiquitous. It seems that no matter where you go, you’ll see pumpkin-flavored creations. Why is that? Culver’s, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts, Dairy Queen: they all have pumpkin spice concoctions. Shakes, coffee, smoothies, ice cream and custard, lattes, donuts, pancakes, cheesecakes, bagels, muffins, breads, scones, yogurt, you name it.
Beer companies, too, put out pumpkin flavored beers every fall. I saw an article online that rated 47 different brands of pumpkin-flavored beers! I’m not a beer drinker so I’ve never tasted one, but obviously they’re pretty popular.
In reality, most of the seasonal specials are not really “pumpkin” at all; they’re usually just made with the pumpkin pie spices: cinnamon, powdered ginger, nutmeg and cloves, sometimes allspice.
Language lesson: the name pumpkin comes from the Greek word for “large melon” which is “pepon.” The French changed it to “pompon.” (Do you think ancient pompon squads shook pumpkins instead of paper pompons?) The English changed it to “pumpion” or “pompion.”
History lesson: The pumpkin is native to the continent of North America. The pumpkin was an early export to France; from there it was introduced to Tudor England, and the flesh of the “pompion” was quickly accepted as pie filler.
Early American settlers of Plymouth Plantation about 1620 might have made pumpkin pies (of sorts) by making stewed pumpkins or by filling a hollowed out shell with milk, honey and spices, and then baking it in hot ashes. Northeastern Native American tribes grew squash and pumpkins which they roasted or boiled for eating.
The Native Americans brought pumpkins as gifts to the first settlers and taught them the many uses for the pumpkin. This is what developed into pumpkin pie about 50 years after the first Thanksgiving in America. An actual present-day pumpkin pie with crust at the first celebration is a myth, because ovens to bake pies were not available in the colony at that point.
Today, throughout much of the United States it is traditional to serve pumpkin pie after Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.
Recipes for “pompion pies” started appearing in French and British cookbooks about 1651 and in 1653, a cookbook called “The True French Cook” appeared in England with a recipe for “pumpkin pie” with a pastry shell.
It was not until 1796 that the first American cookbook was written and published in America, and the first cook book that developed recipes for foods native to America. It had a recipe for a “pompkin” pudding baked in a crust and similar to present day pumpkin pies. Spices in the recipe were cinnamon, powdered ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Today allspice is also commonly used and can replace the cloves and nutmeg as its flavor is similar to both combined. Cardamom and vanilla are also sometimes used. The spice mixture is called pumpkin pie spice.
John Greenleaf Whittier wrote in his 1850 poem “The Pumpkin”:
“Ah! on Thanksday, when from East and from West, From North and from South comes the pilgrim and guest;
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored;
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before;
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye,
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?”
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
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