There is a big orange pumpkin sitting in my kitchen right now that nobody carved. I just purchased a can of Libby’s Pumpkin Puree to make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. I can’t cook with the monstrous orange Jack-O-Lantern to be as those “field” pumpkins we get for carving are terrible to eat. Though they are technically edible, their flesh is watery, bland, and fibrous. For cooking, you want any one of a number of small pumpkins with a sweet, dense flesh. If you purchased on, results could vary!
So, is Libby’s canned Pumpkin Puree as good as fresh? I’d say it’s better by a long shot. Anybody who tells you differently is probably a food blogger trying to sound legit. Even if you could find a suitable pumpkin for cooking, you’d have no way of knowing how your pie would turn out. You’d have to cook the pumpkin flesh and puree it. It could be more watery than expected or less sweet. You may find that your pie doesn’t set very well and doesn’t have the taste you expect.
It’s frequently reported that canned pumpkin puree doesn’t always contain pumpkin. According to the FDA, there is nothing wrong with this:
Canned “pumpkin” has for many years been packed from field pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) or certain varieties of firm-shelled, golden-fleshed, sweet squash (Cucurbita maxima), or mixtures of these. Pumpkin and squash are sometimes mixed intentionally to obtain the consistency most acceptable to users.
And there is nothing wrong with it. Not everyone can always agree on which species should be called pumpkins and which squash, but they are all closely related and have many of the same attributes. In fact, if you look for pumpkins suitable for cooking, you’ll likely get a list of squashes and pumpkins.
Another term used to describe pumpkins suitable for cooking, as opposed to large field carving pumpkins, is “sugar pumpkins.” Sugar pumpkin is an umbrella term given to a group of winter squash with sweet flesh. There does not seem to be any hard and fast rules and generally, any number of smaller pumpkins or yellow-fleshed yellow squash may be considered sugar pumpkins. You’ll see names like Cinderella, Sugar Pie, Cheese Pumpkin, Acorna, Hubbard Squash, etc.
It’s bewildering. On the other hand, nothing is confusing about Libby’s Pumpkin Puree. It contains 100% pure pumpkin. The type of pumpkin is Libby’s Select Pumpkin, a hybrid of Dickinson pumpkins. Libby works with select growers and supplies the seeds to them. This has actually been the norm in the canned pumpkin industry for decades and regardless of what other brands contain, it will not be random, but carefully controlled.
Now, there is nothing wrong with going out and getting yourself a suitable cooking pumpkin and making a homemade pie! And you can roast the seeds and use every bit of the fruit. But don’t do it because you think it will be superior! It likely will not.
Libby’s is responsible for upwards of 80% of pureed pumpkin sold in the United States and it’s not just because the brand has become a holiday tradition. It has to do with consistency.
Besides making sure that its own pumpkins are used in its products, the company does a few things you’d have a hard time with. After harvesting, the pumpkins are immediately inspected, washed, chopped, and cooked (the whole thing, seeds, skin and all). Then the cooked pumpkin is mushed through giant presses to remove some of the water, a key step.
After that, pulping machines are used to separate the seeds and fibrous material from the cooked pumpkin flesh. The result is pureed, heated again, and canned. The cans themselves are then heated in pressure cookers. The result is a highly consistent product in terms of texture and water content with no other ingredients besides pumpkin. This makes for a consistent pie, not to mention other pumpkin desserts like pumpkin cheesecake.
So, don’t feel guilty about opting for a can of pumpkin puree for your Thanksgiving pie. Even if it’s not Libby’s, you’re bound to get a better result. Pies made with canned puree denser and have a stronger flavor, requiring fewer added flavorings such as cinnamon, ginger, and/or cloves.
