Don't Bother Cooking Your Own Pumpkin For Pie

Pumpkin pie season lasts from whenever Costco decrees (which seems to be August in recent years) and generally extends through the holiday season, meaning you have plenty of time to attempt baking your own. Sure, you can buy a pre-baked crust and a can of pumpkin pie filling. But if you're more of a DIYer, you may want to make everything from scratch. Should that extend to roasting and pureeing your own pumpkin, however? Jerrelle Guy, a food blogger and author of "Black Girl Baking", feels this is unnecessary.

"Canned pumpkin is just as good, if not better, than homemade," says Guy, citing its consistent texture and moisture. She notes that home-cooked pumpkin can be watery if you don't drain it sufficiently, plus she calls the flavor "one-dimensional." As she explains, "Canned pumpkin is also usually a mix of different squashes, which gives it better flavor." Wait, so those cans of pumpkin puree are a lie? Well, not exactly, since pumpkin itself is a winter squash. Libby's (which is Guy's preferred brand) is made with Dickinson pumpkins, which have a similar flavor to butternut squash.

Even when it comes to nutrients, canned pumpkin holds a slight edge. While processing a food may often reduce the amount of nutrients it contains, commercially canned pumpkin actually has more fiber, vitamin A, and iron than the fresh kind.

So is store-bought canned pumpkin always preferable to the DIY kind? Not necessarily. Bear in mind, Guy's recommendation pertains to pumpkin pies and doesn't extend to other recipes. If you are baking a pie, though, and you're willing to put in the effort of pureeing your own pumpkin: the necessary de-gooping will reward you with plenty of seeds as a lagniappe. (We suggest brining pumpkin seeds in beer for extra flavor.) It will also allow you to repurpose any pumpkins you've purchased for decoration.

Even jack-o-lantern pumpkins are edible, though their flesh may be a bit stringier and not as sweet as the aptly-named sugar pumpkins. While they shouldn't be your first pick for a pie, you probably won't be able to tell the difference if you use them to make muffins instead. You can also swap homemade puree on a 1:1 basis for the canned pumpkin called for in our pumpkin spice baked blintzes and curry-seasoned pumpkin soup.

There are also certain recipes where canned pumpkin simply won't do. Our Jamaican pumpkin punch relies on both the pumpkin and the water it's simmered in. While canned pumpkin could be substituted in a pinch, you'll have a far less flavorful drink. To make our roasted pumpkin stuffed with mushrooms and cheese, though, you're obviously going to need the fresh kind since it's hard to stuff a mound of mush.