Photo by Libby´s
Makes two 9-inch pies, single crust, custard filling. Total time 
Libby’s famous Pumpkin Pie recipe with pictures every step of the way.
Why the canned pumpkin puree is in danger!
Plus shortcuts and easy enhancements you can make to the Pumpkin Pie.
What is in a can of Libby´s 100% Pure Pumpkin?
There is enough filling in this recipe to make two tasty Libby´s Famous Pumpkin pies. You can eat one now and freeze the other to eat another day.
A better pumpkin pie recipe
Instead of following the recipe steps on the back of the canned pumpkin puree, I modified the Libby´s Pumpkin Pie recipe so you do not need to dirty up every bowl in your kitchen. You will need just one large bowl to mix everything. I like making the cleanup as easy as possible. Simple and convenient is the key to regular pie baking.
A little story about Libby’s:
90% of the pumpkins grown in the United States are farmed within a 80 mile radius of Peoria, Illinois. The town of Morton, close to Peoria, is claimed to be the Pumpkin Capital of the World.
Libby’s in Illinois – owned by Nestle Food
Libby´s pumpkin processing plant is located in Morton, Illinois. Nestle Food, a Switzerland company, owns Libby´s. Libby contracts with private farmers and supply the proprietary seed and the equipment to grow their patented pumpkins. About 5,000 acres of the farm land is devoted to producing the Dickinson pumpkins for Libby.
Libby’s uses Select Dickinson Pumpkins
Libby´s Select Dickinson Pumpkins are a special strain of Pie Pumpkin used by Libby´s (a division of Carnation Company) for their canned pumpkin. These pumpkins are larger than your normal pie pumpkins. Pie Pumpkins weigh about 5 pounds. The Dickinson’s weigh 10 to 14 pounds, are oblong and tanned in color. They have a much thicker orange flesh and less open space in the center.
How Libby’s Canned Pumpkin puree makes it to your store shelves:
Libby uses Dickinson pumpkins which are larger than your traditional pie pumpkin you find in the stores. These pumpkins take about 105 warm days from planting to maturity. They weigh about 12 pounds.
Libby’s pumpkins are sweeter and creamy
The Dickinson pumpkins are smaller, squatter, meatier, heavier and sweeter than the Halloween pumpkin. It has a creamy texture and fresh pure pumpkin flavor
Harvest the pumpkins in late summer
The harvest for the Dickinson pumpkins is in late summer and through the fall. The Dickinson pumpkins are harvested mechanically, using machines that snip the pumpkins off the vines and line them up in a row.
After being cut off their vines the pumpkins are left in the field for an one or two week curing period.
A tractor with a conveyor belt collects the pumpkins from the field and dumps them into a padded truck. The pumpkins are transported to the Libby´s processing plant in Morton, Illinois.
Libby’s pumpkins at the processing plant
At the processing plant, the pumpkins go through a disinfectant wash and then rinsed. They get chopped and cooked.
The pumpkins are pureed and canned, which will take less than 24 hours from the farm field to canned pumpkin puree.
Libby’s processes 500,000 pumpkins a day
During the harvest, the factory can process 500,000 pumpkins a day into cans.
Now off to big chain stores and your local grocer.
The future of Canned Pumpkin puree is in DANGER:
Libby´s supplies 90% of the world´s pumpkin puree in just over 5,000 acres of contracted and leased farm land.
This is not good for you and I for two main reasons.
1. Libby´s has total control over the future prices of canned pumpkin puree. They control 90% of the world market for pumpkins. If they want to increase their profits, they can easily raise prices to no end, that is until the market refuses to live without pumpkins.
With no real competition, the consumer would need to just live with exuberant priced canned pumpkin or boycott Libby´s.
2. Reason number two is the most scariest because it has already happened in 2009.
All the world´s pumpkins are grown in such a small area of about 5,000 acres. All the pumpkins in this small area are all of the same patented Dickinson pumpkin variety.
Libby´s processing facility is located in Morton, Illinois, and almost all of the pumpkins are grown within a fifty-mile radius of the plant.
Disease and bad weather conditions could destroy 90% of the world´s pumpkins in just a matter of days. This is exactly what happened in 2009.
A 15 ounce can of Libby´s Pumpkin puree went from $1.80 to $7.00. This was just because of a single year of bad weather.
Bad weather and disease kills pumpkins
Imagine what the danger will be if multiple years of bad weather or disease took over Libby´s pumpkins. No more pumpkin pies unless you grow it yourself or wealthy enough to eat a $50 dollar pumpkin pie.
If different varieties were used in Libby´s pumpkin puree, a diseased crop would not spread so quickly. It might just attack a single variety while preserving another.
The same applies to the weather. Different varieties of pumpkins will mature at different times of the year. Some might get hit with bad weather while another could wait until the weather cooperates.
The Conclusion is Scary for pumpkin puree:
You get the story that Libby´s just about owns the pumpkin market and the towns they use for their patented pumpkins. And Libby´s is at the mercy of mother nature and plant diseases.
What is in a can of Libby’s Pumpkin Puree? 100% Pumpkin
Nothing is added to the canned pumpkin puree, no salt, no sugar, no artificial flavorings, no colorings or preservatives. Some water is removed to concentrate the pumpkin for an even consistency and fresh rich taste.
Libby´s uses pumpkins they call Libby´s® Select Dickinson. Libby´s owns all of the rights to this modified pumpkin. So do not try to look if you can grow it yourself.
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Print this recipe
—Ingredients—
Pastry dough – two single crust
Need help makinga flaky pie crust?
Blind – baked Pate Brisee
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 ice cold water
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
2 teaspoon cold corn oil
Filling- Libby’s Original
1 29 ounce Libby´s ® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 cans (12 fluid onces each) Carnation ®evaporated milk
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
Filling- My Enhanced Version
1 29 ounce Libby´s ® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 large eggs
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground mace
1 dainty pinch ground cloves
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
Directions
1. Prepare the pastry or use ready made pie crust: Crimp edges and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Libby´s wants them unbaked. Prebake your pie crust if you do not want a doughy bottom crust after it is baked.
2. Put a sheet of foil in the pie crust and add your pie weights. Beans work well.
3. Blind bake your favorite pie crust at 350° F for about 30 minutes or until the crust edges start to brown.
Prepare the filling:
4. Add all your eggs in a large bowl which will hold all of the filling ingredients. Whisk the eggs without incorporating too much air into the mixture.
5. Add the pumpkin puree to the egg mixture and mix it all together.
6. Now add the sugar to the mixture.
7. Mix in all of the spices: ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Mix it real good until all of the spices are distribute evenly in the pumpkin puree.
8. It is time to open two cans of evaporated milk. Add this and the vanilla to your mixture. Whisk these ingredients all together.
7. Fill your pie crust with the pumpkin filling. I like to use a cup to scoop it and pour it into the crust. Then once in the oven, top it of with a little bit more with the cup.
8. This goes right into the oven at 425° F for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350° F and rotate the pie 180 degrees and continue to bake for another 40 to 50 minutes or until done.
9. Bake until the center sits and starts to jiggle when shaken.
10. Let the pie cool for 2 -3 hours.
11. Libby´s canned pumpkin puree is more consistent in flavor than buying and using a fresh pumpkin.
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