6 Unique Pumpkin Pie Recipes To Put A Twist On Your Thanksgiving (2024)

FAQs

What 4 types of pies are most popular at Thanksgiving? ›

Well, Thanksgiving bummer among bummers ... no pumpkin pie. Certainly, they ate pumpkin in some way — probably roasted and mashed or cubed and added to a stew, but with no wheat (flour) and little to no butter available, there was no crust. And sugar was a precious and rare commodity at the time.

In 1705 the Connecticut town of Colchester famously postponed its Thanksgiving for a week because there wasn't enough molasses available to make pumpkin pie.

The 17th century French chef François Pierre La Varenne is credited with developing the first recipe for a “pompion” torte around 1650, complete with a pastry crust. English recipes including various dried fruits and nuts in the filling later followed La Varenne's prototype.

While Thanksgiving technically isn't a religious holiday, the “giving thanks” part of it struck Jefferson as being far too religious for his tastes. As our nation's third president, he stirred controversy by refusing to recognize Thanksgiving.

It is also worth noting what was not present at the first Thanksgiving feast. There were no cloudlike heaps of mashed potatoes, since white potatoes had not yet crossed over from South America. There was no gravy either, since the colonists didn't yet have mills to produce flour.

Answer: Colchester, Connecticut

A frigid bout of cold weather in the middle of October led to the Connecticut River freezing, so settlers couldn't get their usual liquid sugar shipped on time from across the pond. Thus, the townspeople decided to postpone the holiday for a week in 1705.

Pumpkin pie is most popular among residents in North Carolina, Michigan, Maryland, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska, West Virginia, Mississippi, and South Dakota.

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 over a three day harvest festival. It included 50 Pilgrims, 90 Wampanoag Indians, and lasted three days. It is believed by historians that only five women were present. Turkey wasn't on the menu at the first Thanksgiving.

How did Native Americans eat pumpkin? ›

Native American Indians used pumpkin as an important part of their diets many years before the Pilgrims landed. Native Americans enjoyed the inner pulp of the pumpkin baked, boiled, roasted and dried. They added the blossoms to soups, turned dried pumpkin pieces into rich flour, and ate the seeds as a tasty snack.

The word “pumpkin” originates from “peopon,” which means “large melon” in Greek. It then evolved to “pompon” in French and “pumpion” in Britain. The Americans later changed it to “pumpkin,” the name we still use today.

Did you know that the FIRST pumpkin pies were actually WHOLE BAKED PUMPKINS stuffed with assorted spices and apples? Did you know 50 million pumpkin pies are baked every year? The LARGEST PUMPKIN PIE on record was five feet around. It used 80 pounds of pumpkin and baked for six hours!

There are four types of pies: cream, fruit, custard, and savory.

The classic Thanksgiving dinner includes old-time favorites that never change: turkey, gravy, stuffing, potatoes, veggies, and pie. But the way these dishes are made or added to is everchanging because of food trends and different dietary requirements.

In a 2022 survey, approximately 23 percent of U.S. consumers stated that pumpkin pie was the favorite pie they would like to see on the table for Thanksgiving. Other popular choices were pecan and apple pie which 14 and 12 percent of respondents preferred to see on Thanksgiving, respectively.