For today's stroll you don't have to go far, maybe as close as your own dining room on Thanksgiving Day...
let's find out how pumpkin pie became a big part of the celebration!
PUMPKIN PIE
The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for “large melon” which is “pepon.” “Pepon” was changed by the French into “pompon.” The English termed it “pumpion” or “pompion.”
I never thought about it before but in most parts of the world they never serve or eat pumpkin pie!
Pumpkin pie is very popular in the United States and Canada. It is most popular during the Thanksgiving holiday. Every Thanksgiving season, families gather around the table and celebrate a meal together. Pumpkin pie, the hallmark of Thanksgiving, has been stealing the show for hundreds of years.
center>
Early American settlers of Plimoth Plantation (1620-1692), the first permanent European settlement in southern New England, 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. Even though we see it in recreation pictures of the first Thanksgiving. An actual present-day pumpkin pie with crust is a myth, as ovens to bake pies were not available in the colony at that stage.
Northeastern Native American tribes grew squash and pumpkins. They roasted or boiled them for eating. Historians think that the settlers were not very impressed by the Indians’ squash and/or pumpkins until they had to survive their first harsh winter when about half of the settlers died from scurvy and exposure. The Native Americans brought pumpkins as gifts to the first settlers, and taught them the many used for the pumpkin. This is what developed into pumpkin pie about 50 years after the first Thanksgiving in America.
It was not until 1796 that a truly American cookbook, American cookery, by an American orphan by Amelia Simmons, was published. It was the first American cookbook written and published in America, and the first cook book that developed recipes for foods native to America. Her pumpkin puddings were baked in a crust and similar to present day pumpkin pies.
There are all kinds of variations on pumpkin pies around these days, but most of us tend to like the plain old original style that we grew up with.
This year as you gather around maybe you can share a little history if you can get them to listen once the pumpkin pie comes out all bets may be off!
Happy Thanksgiving y'all!
