Pumpkin pie is a holiday favorite

From the Milk Bar pumpkin pie, to the most simple of pumpkin pies, this seasonal treat is found in many spreads of last courses. Pumpkin was a staple to early settlers of New England, and was at first used in many other ways.

Pumpkin was treated and cooked like a vegetable, and then mulled into a beverage similar to apple cider. Pumpkin pie looked very different at the time of its invention compared to its modern look.

Think of an apple pie; it is filled with thin slides and has crusts on the top and bottom, covering the contents. Pumpkin pie started out the same way. Originally, pumpkin pie was inspired by apple pie, there were pieces of sliced pumpkin (along with apples) in between two crusts with sugar and spices filling the empty space.

Pumpkin pie has since evolved from its original form in the 1600s, in fact by 1796, a recipe was found where pumpkin pie filling looked very different. In a cookbook written by Amelia Simmons the very year, there was a recipe listed for pumpkin pie. This recipe featured a pudding-like filling. The pumpkin custard was still covered by a second crust.

In 1824, Mary Rudolph’s cookbook featured a very similar recipe to Amelia Simmons, but with the subtraction of a top crust. Rudolph instead opted for decorational pieces of crust placed on the top of the pie. Throughout the coming decades, more and more pumpkin pie recipes were published in cookbooks, and the pie exploded in popularity.

By 1850, pumpkin pie was an icon and found on almost every Thanksgiving table across New England. In the 1900s, pumpkins began being primarily used just for pies, and that is what they were advertised for. It was now rare to see pumpkins used like a vegetable or for a savory dish, it was especially rare and potentially unheard of for a pumpkin to be used for a drink like they were in the 1600s.

Pumpkin pie was not made with canned pumpkin for many years, until about 1920, pumpkin pie was almost exclusively made with fresh, whole pumpkins that people roasted and peeled themselves. The popularity of canned pumpkin brought pumpkin pie to more tables than ever before.

Along with the widespread availability of canned pumpkin across the US, restaurants and bakeries started offering whole pumpkin pies seasonally to take the stress off of home bakers for the holidays. By the 1960s, among store bought pumpkin pies and canned pumpkin, frozen pumpkin pies were also beginning to pop up around stores.

Nowadays, pumpkin pie is one of the most accessible and popular holiday desserts, for good reason. Pumpkin pie has had hundreds of years of evolution to reflect the people baking it. Pumpkin pie can now be found on any table, from anywhere. Pumpkin pie is a sign of the holiday season, and can be appreciated by anyone. You can walk into any grocery store and see the ingredients to make a pumpkin pie, right next to pre-made, ready to eat pumpkin pies.