Use Your Best Pumpkin From A Germantown Area Field To Make A Pie

GERMANTOWN, MD — A visit to a pumpkin patch in Germantown this fall could serve a purpose other than finding a jack-o-lantern – at the field, you just might find the best pumpkin for a homemade pie.

If you’re looking to switch things up from the can of filling you typically use for your pies, head on over to a patch in the Germantown area to pick up the best type of pumpkin for your baking endeavor.

• Brookfield Pumpkins
• DePaul's Urban Farm
• Homestead Farm
• Loudounberry
• Sharp's At Waterford Farm
• Summers Farm
• The Maryland Corn Maze
• Wegmeyer Farms
• Winterbrook Farms
• Butler's Orchard

Southern Living says small, round sugar pumpkins – sometimes called pie or sweet pumpkins – are the best pumpkins for baking. The stem should be brown, but still firmly attached, and you should check for blemishes and bruising. And don’t get hung up on the color: As a pumpkin matures, its flesh dulls.

One you’ve found your pumpkin, it’s time to start baking. Patch has rounded up some homemade pumpkin pie recipes, and your first step is to prepare your pumpkin for use in a pie.

On popular cooking website allrecipes, Nancy Scott posted a Homemade Fresh Pumpkin Pie recipe that includes step-by-step instructions on preparing mashed pumpkin. Bakers should begin by halving the pumpkin and scooping out seeds and stringy portions, then cutting it into chunks.

Once it’s all cut up, boil an inch of water in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the pumpkin chunks to the pan and heat them to a boil, before reducing heat to low, covering the pan, and letting it simmer for 30 minutes “or until tender.”

The pumpkin should then be drained and cooled, with the peel removed. After that, it can be returned to the saucepan and mashed with a potato masher or food mill.

For another method, look to Sheri B., whose from-scratch pumpkin pie recipe is featured on Food.com. Sheri says the roasted pumpkin can be puréed using a sieve, food mill, blender or food processor, but she likes to create the filling with a hand potato masher.

Once you have your pumpkin purée ready, it’s time to make it into a pie.

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Blogger Laura posted her classic homemade pumpkin pie recipe to JoyFoodSunshine. Everything about her pie is made from scratch, from the crust to the dollop of homemade whipped cream added after it’s been plated. Laura tells you everything you need to know, from the tools you’ll need to how to know when the pie is done.

Though Laura’s pie requires a little over two hours to make, she says on her website the 10-ingredient recipe “is the only pumpkin pie recipe you’ll ever need” and that “literally everyone” who tries it falls in love with it.

“It’s a beautiful blend of creamy, spicy sweet flavors that encompass all that is wonderful about fall,” Laura says.

For some cooks, secret pumpkin pie ingredients make for an unforgettable dessert. New York City-based food and wine writer Mandy Naglich’s recipe on Taste Of Home calls for cracked black pepper.

“The best way to preserve the spiciness of pumpkin spice is with freshly cracked black pepper,” Naglich writes. “It adds a robust bite to the traditional spice mix, which comes across subtly in each mouthful of pumpkin pie.”

The pepper won’t make the pie “spicy,” but guests may ask where you got the super-fresh spices, she says.

“Food Hussy” Heather Johnson touts the secret ingredient in her mom’s pumpkin pie recipe. For years, Johnson’s mother refused to share the recipe, but eventually gave it up to her blogger daughter: It’s Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry, a dessert wine.

After you’ve gone through all the trouble of baking from-scratch pumpkin pies, you may decide using a can of pumpkin pie filling is easier. But either way, you’ll be glad you gave it a shot.