A Brief History of Pumpkin Pie Wiith a Recipe by Rebecca Wood

"For pottage and puddings and custard and pies,
Our pumpkins and parsnip are common supplies:
We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon,
If it were not for pumpkins, we should be undoon"


Those words were uttered in 1639 by a pilgrim describing the hardships of the New World. Pumpkins are native to the New World and related to squashes, cucumbers, and cantaloupes. Early references go back many centuries, and the name pumpkin originated with the Greek word for “large melon,” or “pepon,” meaning “cooked by the sun.” The French nasalized “pepon” and it became “pompon.” Then the English changed “pompon” to “pumpion,” which can be found in Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor. New World colonists changed “pumpion” into “pumpkin.” 

In the New World, the pumpkin’s ancestors can be traced back 9,000 years to Mexico. Native Americans used pumpkins for food long before any European settlers arrived by drying strips of pumpkin and cutting them into mats. They also cut strips of pumpkin and roasted them on an open fire to get them through the long winters. As centuries passed they learned many ways of enjoying the inner meat of the delicious and nutritious winter squash: baked, boiled, roasted, fried, parched, or dried. They also used pumpkin seeds for medicine. The Native American term for pumpkin is “isquotm squash.” 

The pumpkin pie originated when the colonists cut off the head of the pumpkin top, removed the seeds, and filled the insides with milk, spices, and honey. Then they baked the pumpkin in hot ashes. Also, early colonists used pumpkin meat as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.