Nationwide Shortage of Canned Pumpkin Threatens Thanksgiving Pies
If you see canned pumpkin in your grocery store, stock up now ahead of Thanksgiving. Cold days and too much rain the last few growing seasons have led to a shortage of the Turkey Day pie ingredient. Says one grocer, "We order so much during the thanksgiving season that we can't get rid of it after the thanksgiving season. This is very rare, something I've never seen before."
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12 Comments:
I had to go to 3 stores before I found pumpkin last week. I bought 4 cans, but now I'm going back to buy 4 more!
moo1018 at 12:11PM on 09/29/09
Oh no I love pumpkin pie...im gonna have to go stock up before all the other pumpkin pie fiends find out
rumanddiet at 12:12PM on 09/29/09
I got the last can at my store a few weeks ago! I thought it was a fluke... now I'll have to rush back and buy all of their re-stock!
lizaj at 1:20PM on 09/29/09
We were at Trader Joes and another, larger store a couple of days ago-- no canned pumpkin. TJ did have canned sweet potato, though, which worked as a direct substitute in my wife's pumpkin nee sweet potato bread.
MarvinDog at 2:08PM on 09/29/09
Try the Pumpkin pie recipe from Cook's Illustrated last year: http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=17662
It's fabulous, and uses a can of yams (sweet potato) along with the canned pumpkin - it gives it much more flavor, and nobody knows the difference! Canned pumpkin is actually not really pumpkin anyway, so no need to feel like you're breaking tradition or anything to do it.
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at 2:50PM on 09/29/09
I always made sweet potato pie with a touch of maple syrup, covered in pecans, walnuts, brown sugar and butter, and quickly caramelized under a hot broiler. Don't pre-cook the pastry, though, or it will burn.
NotAmerican at 3:07PM on 09/29/09
I'm going to have to stock up on a few cans now that Pumpkin Pie season is here.
I hope this won't affect the availability of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter spread - it's totally delish and something my family looks forward to every year.
MMinNYC at 3:13PM on 09/29/09
I have seen this story in three different places and very few people mention the obvious solution: use a fresh pumpkin. You bake it, you mash it, you use it.
CatBoy at 3:50PM on 09/29/09
I thought this was just a fluke at the three grocery stores and two Trader Joes I have been to. This 39 week pregnant lady wants to make some Pumpkin Chocolate chip muffins for herself and the nurses at the Birthing Center!
Top Sheff at 4:56PM on 09/29/09
Canned squash not a problem too? I usually make a squash pie instead of pumpkin anyway. Lots of people wouldn't be able to tell the difference, though it has a little less punch to it. So if you don't feel like the hassle of a fresh pumpkin, this is another solution. One-pie has squash, and I think Libby's does too.
lemonfair at 5:43AM on 09/30/09
woooo-hoo! Maybe for once this year I won't have to choke down pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving! Sorry to all-y'all who like that pie though.
bisbee at 4:44PM on 09/30/09
Rumors of the pumpkin's death may be greatly exaggerated. I just had a long chat with the manager of my local Trader Joe's (outside Washington D.C.) and he says TJ's never has pumpkin in cans before about mid-October. He went onto his computer and said that stocks of pumpkin butter and pumpkin bread mix were plentiful, and the first shipments of canned pumpkin are due in a week or two, on schedule. There were piles of pumpkins for sale outside the front door of the store.
I then stopped into the supermarket next door to TJ's, and they had lots of Libby's 100% pumpkin. Just in case the TJ manager was blowing hot air, though, I picked up a couple of cans!
Teachertalk at 2:45PM on 10/03/09