Sometime, try some of the squashes like Confection or Cha Cha from Johnny's that are bred for flavor and taste -

Which reminds me, that we are eating the smaller ones now by scrubbing the outside to get it very clean, then cutting in half, seeding, then dicing the squash up into 1/2 inch X 1 inch cubes - then into a frying pan, peel and all, and browning / caramelizing them in butter or olive oil - at which point we either eat them like that, or add to soup/stew etc. The peel is no problem, just looks a little funny the first time.

unpeeled David!?? i won't even eat an apple unpeeled!

Marj, I have to admit to having never eaten a pie pumpkin.

I guess it is possible to have found that in a can of Libby's but, my understanding is that the "pumpkin" in that can is usually a marrow squash . . .

Another vote for the Cucurbita maxima squash, however! Hubbard squash, buttercup, kabocha . . . When I was a kid, pumpkin pies somehow became my holiday job. I'd start off by going out to the wood shed and splitting a Pink Banana squash with an axe!

Can't grow that long-season variety up here but I'm here to tell ya' - They make a darn-good pumpkin pie!

Now, to give me something to compare them to -- why don't you make another of those pie pumpkin pies and ship it off post-haste in my direction!

Steve

Nice! Darren only makes pies from pie pumpkins now. We only tried it once with a regular jack-o-lantern pumpkin but it wasn't right. I'm a little jealous that you can grow pumpkins! Are you going to make pies all the time now?
Jennifer

I had so many Sugar Pie Pumpkins last season and last week I finally finished putting all the meat up. I agree these are wonderful for pies, not stringy, very good texture.
I have separated the pumpkin meat into 2 cups each and put into ziploc in the freezer for easy pumpking pie making. I'm making one this coming week. Let us know how your pumpkins do this coming season.

I hope the seeds I save will be ok - I had washed them, and left them out on a plate to dry before bagging them up. But after about a week or so, I noticed they were molding in the baggie!! I took them out and threw out the worst ones, but the others I rewashed and left them out longer this time to dry. Put them back in a baggie again, and they are doing ok - although there is still some staining from the previous bout with the mold.

I'll give them a try at sprouting, but if they don't work will buy another pie pumpkin or look for some packaged seeds.

I'll have to try some of the Confection and Cha Cha varieties, David!

Our pumpkins this past season in general did not do as well as our first season of growing them in 2010. We only got 2 or 3, and they were small. Will try them again in 2012 and hope for a better turn out - in 2010, we had probably 20 or so (again, relatively small compared to a lot that you see in the stores, but was still fun to have that many to display for Halloween and not have to buy them :^).

Marj

Marj, my pumpkins did much better in '10 than in '11 too! Had so many in 2010 that I probably ended up with close to 4 gallons of puree. Even then, a couple of them went bad before I could finish processing them.

This year, I might have had half a dozen, and like yours, they were much smaller.

Wondering if the cool spring, and overall mild summer temperatures were to blame?

Bonnie

When I read these posts about pumpkins and purees and such, I start pulling my hair (I'll be quiet now.

David, please don't pull your hair out! LOL!!! I use the term pumpkin interchangeably with winter squash, mainly because I don't really understand the difference.

Last year, I did indeed grow Red Kuri, but decided the plant was a space hog in relation to the size of the squash. I also grew Australian Butter. It was not near as productive, but I liked the flavor and texture. This year, I tried 5 different types of winter squash, and did not have a single, full sized ripe one by the first frost! The few ripe pumpkins I did get were Baby Pam, and one small Rouge Vif d'Etamps.

I'm still sticking with the two squash from Johnny's - Cha Cha and Confection, as the best tasting ones I've grown, and I've tried maybe a dozen varieties.

Marina di Chioggia tastes great as well, but that thing takes up half an acre, and the fruit (one per plant is what I got), weighs in at about 30 lbs.