# Fresh Pumpkin vs Canned



## JoeV (Nov 11, 2008)

If you're color blind you may not be able to tell the difference, but on the left is the jack-o-lantern from Halloween that I cleaned, peeled, boiled, drained (lots!) and pureed. On the right is what's left from the canned pumpkin I bought at the store on Sunday to make pumpkin rolls. My question (since this is the first time I've processed a pumpkin) is, is the canned pumpkin possibly made from a pie pumpkin vs a jack-o-lantern pumpkin? Or, is the dark color from the processing? The canned pumpkin has nothing added to it, and the can said it was only pumpkin.

BTW, the one I processed is delicious with a pat of butter and a bit of brown sugar. I want to use my pumpkin to make some more pumpkin rolls tonight. The canned stuff may not be long for my fridge after tasting the fresh stuff. There will be nothing left to freeze when I'm done baking, because I will eat everything that remains!


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## Andy M. (Nov 11, 2008)

I believe the canned pumpkin is a different variety from the Jack-o-lantern pumpkin


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## PieSusan (Nov 11, 2008)

Just for future reference, as pumpkins change from year to year with respect to sugar and water content, Nick Malgieri surprised me at one of his master classes when he said that he prefers to use canned pumpkin. He complained about the issue of all the fibers, too.

So, don't feel bad about using canned pumpkin. I just like to use the plain because I can add my own spices.


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## expatgirl (Nov 11, 2008)

well, my two cents are that it's very labor intensive to make the fresh pumpkin and the canned is every bit as good..........and ready to go in seconds................


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## JoeV (Nov 11, 2008)

expatgirl said:


> well, my two cents are that it's very labor intensive to make the fresh pumpkin...



Yeah, I learned that the hard way. 



> I believe the canned pumpkin is a different variety from the Jack-o-lantern pumpkin



That's what my question was. Apparently pie pumpkins must be darker in color to start with.

Regardless of the work involved, I'll plod ahead this evening and make some pumpkin rolls with the scratch pumpkin and see how it turns out. Pictures at 11! LOL


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## sparrowgrass (Nov 12, 2008)

I think canned pumpkin is much superior to jack-o-lantern pumpkin, which is stringy and watery.  Commercial pumpkins for pie are banana squash, blue on the outside, and weighing up to 60 pounds.

I sub butternut squash for canned pumpkin often, and love the flavor.


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## JoeV (Nov 12, 2008)

sparrowgrass said:


> I think canned pumpkin is much superior to jack-o-lantern pumpkin, which is stringy and watery.  Commercial pumpkins for pie are banana squash, blue on the outside, and weighing up to 60 pounds.
> 
> I sub butternut squash for canned pumpkin often, and love the flavor.



Interesting. I heard just the opposite (from friends who bake pumpkin stuff) that the pie pumpkins are much smaller than the Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins, which can grow to 300# +. Yes, I did learn that they are stringy, and I actually put the pureed pumpkin in a linen towel and squeezed an unbelievable amount of water from it.

What I did learn from this trip down the path of "scratch" pumpkin rolls, was that my batter came out with too much moisture, and even with 18 minutes of baking, was still too moist compared to using the canned pumpkin. I did all the same processing of dusting the cake with powdered sugar and rolling it in the same towel as Sunday's roll, yet the cake cracked a lot. Sunday had no cracking at all. I made the roll this morning and put it in the fridge to cool at 8:00 a.m., and at noon it was cold, but not firm. The filling appeared to take on moisture from the cake, and would not cut nicely. As is my practice, I post my successes as well as my "learning experiences," so here it is (please hold the laughter until I leave the room)...






It tastes just fine, but is not something I would give as a food gift, which was my intent. I guess they will go in the freezer and be eaten over the coming winter months by family, who you can feed almost anything to. 

Thanks for all your input during this project. I think I'll stick with my bread baking which I've got dialed in pretty well

JoeV


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## expatgirl (Nov 12, 2008)

Hey, Joe, you're being way too hard on your pumpkin roll.........yeah, you rock on the bread posts!!!!


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## JoeV (Nov 12, 2008)

expatgirl said:


> Hey, Joe, you're being way too hard on your pumpkin roll.........yeah, you rock on the bread posts!!!!



I'm not being hard on myself, just providing a critique of how my "experiment" turned out. Ugly, but edible. Thank goodness this is a hobby where I can eat my mistakes! Urp!


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## JoeV (Nov 12, 2008)

expatgirl said:


> Hey, Joe, you're being way too hard on your pumpkin roll.........yeah, you rock on the bread posts!!!!



Hey expatgirl. Clean out your PM box so I can send you a message. Thanks!

JoeV

Sorry if this is not the place to post this, but she doesn't have an e-mail link in her profile.


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## expatgirl (Nov 12, 2008)

Joe, I've been trying for 3 days now to clean it out and it won't do it..........I've asked my techhie son, Chris, to please hunt this down and see what the problem is...........when I push that button that asks if you want to delete all messages I push yes, like in the past, and when it returns it still says 100% full........today is his first day off and so is tomorrow......I'll ask him again as I love nothing better than getting messages..........no, I'm so glad that you posted and asked........maybe someone can help............


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## sparrowgrass (Nov 12, 2008)

*Commercial* pumpkins for canned pumpkin are big, but there are many small, sweet and tasty pumpkins for the home garden.  There are very few of us who would want to grow 60 pound pumpkins for pie filling--dang, that would make a lot of pies. 

I heard once that commercial packers don't peel or seed the pumpkins--they just grind the whole thing up and cook it.  Don't really know if that is true or not.


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