Pumpkin pie from 1651 that doesn't use spices? 🎃

[AdamB]

Hello everyone! 🎃

I'm a history nerd, so I get emails from History.com about various topics. I received one today about their show Ancient Recipes, where host Sohla makes dishes using the original recipes rather than how we do today. In keeping with the season, she makes two different pumpkin pies using recipes from the 1600s! 

What do you think? I'm trying to imagine a pumpkin pie that doesn't have cinnamon, all spice, and nutmeg, and my flavor memory just can't get there.  Fascinating, though! 🥧

[JK_Fiber_Art]

Hey AdamB,

I used to hang out in the kitchen with my mom - she was great at making everything from scratch, like a dog waiting for a treat, I was there, her pumpkin pie was always special as we used real pumpkins and I even helped with the prep work - the spices enhanced the taste and made it the special treat it was.  Imagine french fries without salt - surely editable but, no happiness.  (My apologies to the folks who for medical reasons should not have salt.)

JK

[AdamB]

That's where I'm coming from with this, too - those spices are really what makes pumpkin pie in the modern sense, pumpkin pie. I could also see how if you never knew what we think of as pumpkin pie that this would taste good to you, though. 

Unrelated, but that huge plate of butter for the crust! 😮 

[JK_Fiber_Art]

Indeed !!!   And homemade crust with butter !  The best - sadly I can't reproduce what my mother could do, but the memories still taste great.

JK

[pessosices]

This is marvelous, @AdamB - Gotta love the intersection of two of my favorite things, food & history.

Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to watch this tonight!

[HC_Charlie]

What a great post, thanks @AdamB . I love cooking and my Grandmother's Pumpkin Pie is one of my specialties. It's different in that it doesn't use nutmeg or allspice, but it does use a lot of cinnamon. I can't image it without any spices. I use an oil crust (no butter) and it has a great flaky texture. I'm also not a food "snob" or stickler for fresh ingredients, but I cannot make this with canned pumpkin. Has to be cooked from fresh long-neck pumpkins (oven roasted to bring out the natural sugar/caramelize the pumpkin). Most people who are used to store bought pumpkin pies that are rubbery with lots of nutmeg can't even recognize this as a pumpkin pie...but it's what I grew up with and I still make it today. Thanks for sharing this article! (Now I gotta get pumpkin shopping before it's too late. FYI I buy a ton of fresh pumpkins during this time of year, roast them and freeze them to make pies all year. Last year I didn't buy/freeze enough so there was a pumpkin pie drought come June this past year!