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Subject: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: JennieG Date: 25 Jan 20 - 04:51 PM We have eaten pumpkin pie in Canada as our visits there have coincided with Thanksgiving, and have quite enjoyed it. In a book I finished last night sweet potato pie seems to be a big thing - it's set in the U.S.A. south, Georgia to be exact. For those of you have tried both - is there a difference? What's your preference? When summer finally ends here in Oz I may just have to try making sweet potato pie, the recipes I found online sound quite yummy. It's been a bit too warm to turn the oven on, so baking will have to wait. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 25 Jan 20 - 05:05 PM I occasionally enjoy a potato pie from one of the SPAR shops in Manchester, England - actually, it is a potato and butter pie, so I am temporarily breaking/flexing my veganity . |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Jan 20 - 05:29 PM Pumpkin pie is usually lighter in color and not as rich a flavor; I make a Joy of Cooking recipe for pumpkin bread and one time I was short of pumpkin so I added mashed sweet potato for the remainder of the veg part. It came out so much richer that I always do it that way now (~ 2/3 pumpkin to 1/3 sweet potato). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Helen Date: 25 Jan 20 - 06:02 PM Hi JennieG, I hope you, your family, friends and loved ones have survived the bushfires. I think if I was making sweet potato pie I'd be more likely to use the orange variety which I think is also called kumera. It has a rich flavour. My Mum used to make gramma pie when I was young. However she might have gone on strike when my Dad assured her that it wasn't as good as the ones his Mum used to make, because she didn't make them as much after a while. I've only had pumpkin pie once I think, when an American couple living here invited me to Thanksgiving lunch one year. She made me laugh by saying she was at a loss on how to use a real pumpkin and not just buy it in a can. I think there would be added sugar in the cans. Errr? No thanks!! LOL I vaguely recall seeing a sweet potato/kumera pie which had a creamy consistency but not from cream. It was possibly/probably from soaking raw cashews and blending them to make a creamy consistency not unlike a cheese cake. I've made a couple of fruity slice recipes with that. Super yum. So yum you don't even realise how healthy it is. Yep, a quick Google reveals some recipes: "raw cashew sweet potato cheesecake" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 25 Jan 20 - 06:19 PM ...wonder where I can try a pumpkin pie in Manchester...maybe a bit more chance this far from Halloween..? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: JennieG Date: 25 Jan 20 - 06:27 PM Fires weren't too close, Helen - thank goodness, and thank you! We have had storms the past couple of evenings and some local roads have been closed due to flash flooding, talk about going from one extreme to the other. My maternal grandmother used to make gramma pie, and I remember eating it but not being ~quite~ sure if I actually liked it. Our Canadian trips (No 2 son lives in Toronto, we have friends in other parts of Ontario and on Vancouver Island) have given me a taste for some foods, pumpkin spice muffins among them (and butter tarts, and Nanaimo bars......) so, being unable to buy canned pumpkin here, I just cut unpeeled pumpkin in chunks and roast it for 30-40 minutes or so. No added oil or seasoning. When it has cooled down it is peeled and pureed in a food processor, then frozen one cup at a time in self-seal bags. As most of the recipes seem to call for one cup of pureed pumpkin that works for me. Yes, definitely I would use the orange sweet potato! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Helen Date: 25 Jan 20 - 06:55 PM Yes, gramma pie never did it for me either. I think it was the - dare I say it? - sliminess of the gramma. Pumpkin bread is good too. When I first started my exploration of the internet in the '90's I was on an international music email list. One of the members from the U.S. emailed me personally and wanted to know if we could swap recipes. I sent her a recipe for pumpkin soup. One of my all-time faves. I couldn't work out why she seemed repulsed by the idea. When my American friend said she had only ever used canned pumpkin I finally put two and two together. I am assuming that the email correspondent could possibly not conceive of a sweet/savoury pumpkin soup given that pumpkins "only" come in cans - with added sugar. Talking of droughts, fires and flooding rains, I just saw an article on ABC News (Oz) about a plague of locusts in Africa. Coincidentally, I'm re-reading Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, about the Apocalypse. I'm starting to wonder whether .....LOL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 25 Jan 20 - 11:24 PM The difference between pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie depends entirely on how much you've had to drink. At a blood alcohol level of .075% or above, the two pies are identical. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Joe Offer Date: 26 Jan 20 - 01:58 AM Pumpkin pie filling is almost a custard. Is sweet potato pie a custard, too? Joe |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: JennieG Date: 26 Jan 20 - 02:54 AM Helen, I couldn't imagine pumpkin soup made with canned sweetened pumpkin......yuk. No wonder your email friend didn't take to it. I use Canadian Living magazine's recipe for pumpkin spice cupcakes, but rather than making 12 cupcakes I cook the mix in an 8in (20cm) square tin, with a streusel topping spread over the top before it goes in the oven. 12 cupcakes is 12 servings, but you can get more than 12 pieces of cake from that tin. BWL - I shall keep your sage advice in mind! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Donuel Date: 26 Jan 20 - 06:42 PM For an American visiting Canada, when we see grape pie on the menu it sounds juicy and fabulous. I wondered if it came in many varieties. Alas it is only dried raisins between crust. I've never seen a prize fight between a pumpkin and a yam but sweet potatoes do feed more folks than pumpkins. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Joe_F Date: 26 Jan 20 - 06:45 PM I am a white American aged 82. I had never heard of sweet-potato pie until 2008, when I happened on a charming Web video of Mr Obama addressing a rally, mostly of black people, in Chicago, and bantering with a lady to the effect that he would love to officiate in a sweet-potato pie contest. I inferred that it was a black thing, and when Mr Obama was elected, I resolved to celebrate by making a sweet-potato pie. There was no mention of it in _The Joy of Cooking_! but of course I found plenty of recipes on the Web, and was pleased to have it for dessert for the following week. I don't recall it being greatly different from pumpkin pie, but sentimentally it was a success. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 26 Jan 20 - 08:59 PM They're both something to put lots of whipped cream on. Whether there's pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie under the whipped cream is irrelevant. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: JennieG Date: 26 Jan 20 - 11:59 PM Joe F - that would fit in with the book I read. The main character was an African-American woman with a large extended family, and it was one of her numerous aunties who was the pie maker. It has to be proper whipped cream, not that squirty stuff from a can! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Mr Red Date: 27 Jan 20 - 04:43 AM From what I gather (New Scientist) the Sweet Potato has many varieis because it was taken round the Pacific as the peoples migrated from island to island. Mainly because it could be propagated vegetively. So much so that regular breeding of Sweet Potato in many cases is about a possible as it is for bananas (eg Cavendish). In NZ they seemed to call Sweet Potato "kumera". Or did 30 years ago. Don't eat it raw! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Donuel Date: 27 Jan 20 - 05:24 AM Even Amazon peoples cultivate a sweet potato |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: gillymor Date: 27 Jan 20 - 07:23 AM It's a toss up for me, I love sweet potatoes prepared in all forms, except for that glop with marshmallows on it, but pumpkin probably evokes fond memories from earlier times. Then again it's hard to think of a pie that I don't like, except rhubarb, as long as it has a well-made crust and fortunately I fooled a girl into marrying me who knows how to roll one out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 27 Jan 20 - 08:13 AM By the way, almost all canned pumpkin is really butternut squash, not the big orange pumpkins used to make jack-o-lanterns. Pay no attention to the picture on the can's label! No, it's not deceptive labeling. The term "pumpkin" is ill-defined and can be applied to pretty much any suitable winter squash variety. Whether or not a given variety of winter squash is called a "pumpkin" or a "squash" is strictly a matter of outer appearance. In fact, what we call a butternut squash in the US is called a butternut pumpkin in Australia. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Senoufou Date: 27 Jan 20 - 08:28 AM I've never tasted either pumpkin or sweet potato. But after Halloween, I always think that the decorative pumpkins are such a waste of potential food. Our neighbour collects them up from everyone in the village for her sheep, and apparently they love 'em! My sister, who's an infinitely better cook than me, makes pumpkin soup with ginger and lots of other ingredients, then batch-freezes it for warming winter snacks. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: gillymor Date: 27 Jan 20 - 08:44 AM I love pumpkin soup but haven't made it in a while, got the recipe from a Pierre Bensusan music book. Those big "Jack-o-Lantern" pumpkins are probably best consumed by sheep because they're not much good for cooking. I found that out the hard way when I was put in charge of making the filling. What you want is a smaller "sugar pumpkin", they show up in the stores here around T-giving. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Senoufou Date: 27 Jan 20 - 09:14 AM I noticed in the supermarkets last year, just before Halloween, an unusually large number of different species of pumpkin-type gourds. Big orangey-yellow ones, gigantic white ones, and all sorts of rather beautiful wrinkly, patterned and ridged greenish ones, some quite tiny. Very interesting, but I've no idea what their names are. We always pick a medium-sized orange one for decorating our front step. Husband often carves the face, then we pop a candle inside. Our sheep-owning neighbour checks them for candle wax first, then feeds them into a small machine (like a chaff-cutter) that chops them into pieces. A neighbouring farmer grows all these weird and wonderful types of pumpkins in rows in his field. People drive up, walk along the rows and choose their pumpkins for Halloween. I love all this, but have never ever cooked the blooming things! Perhaps I should ask my sister for some recipes (she's a cook of Cordon-bleu standard!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Jan 20 - 11:35 AM When I was a kid Mom was making a meal that included the steamed pumpkin that had been out on the porch for Halloween - she was making a pie to go with dinner. She also had some regular butternut-style squash that was steaming. As you have probably already sussed, when we sat down to dinner and started eating the mashed squash on our plates, we realized it was the pumpkin. And the squash pie was perfectly delicious. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: WalkaboutsVerse Date: 27 Jan 20 - 12:53 PM Could be the name of a folk band - SRS and the 3Rs! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Helen Date: 27 Jan 20 - 03:06 PM Well the wildlife loves sweet potatoes: carrots and sweet potatoes dropped from helicopters for starving wildlife Senoufou, pumpkin soup is easy. Fry some onions in oil (I use olive oil), add some cubed pumpkin or butternut pumpkin aka squash. Cook the pumpkin for about 10 minutes to bring out the flavour. Add some vegetable or chicken stock to cover the pumpkin and onions and also top up the saucepan with boiling water. Simmer until the pumpkin is tender. Blend it all up. Season to taste. If you want to jazz it up you can add spices or curry powder before adding the pumpkin pieces but I just love it plain. With a dollop of milk or cream in the bowl and a couple of pieces of toasted bread or sourdough. Easy peasy. If I roast veges I do the whole lot of the pumpkin and use it to make soup or freeze it for later. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Jan 20 - 03:24 PM Zoos are well known as consumers of pumpkins after Halloween. The search "Zoos feed pumpkins" gives lots of images. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: JennieG Date: 27 Jan 20 - 04:25 PM Pumpkin soup seems to be everyone's favourite winter soup, in Oz. I fry green Thai curry paste in with the onions then, when blending the cook vegies and stock, add a small tin of coconut milk. Yummo. Good for clearing the sinuses too, if you have been generous with your curry paste! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Senoufou Date: 27 Jan 20 - 04:50 PM Thank you Helen and JennieG for your recipes. I bet my husband would have a go at cooking the soup, but I bet he'd add several Scotch bonnet chillies and make it so hot it would take your head off! Next Halloween, I might try the soup instead of carving a doorstep lantern. (Sorry sheep!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Helen Date: 27 Jan 20 - 05:02 PM Thanks for that idea, JennieG. I love Thai green curry but never thought of jazzing up pumpkin soup with it. Pumpkin soup probably sounds boring as bat$h1t but there is something comforting about it. It just works. No bells, no whistles. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Mr Red Date: 28 Jan 20 - 05:01 AM In St Helena pumpkin pie was considered an aphrodisiac. Or so Maglan (Princess Dinizulu) told me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: lefthanded guitar Date: 29 Jan 20 - 12:08 AM I'm almost afraid to answer this question b/c when I tried to do so earlier today , the site suddenly disappeared , taking my rather long post with it. But here goes - I used to like sweet pp only, not pumpkin -ever since a coworker gifted me a home made sweet pp. But in very recent years , I will only eat pumpkin pie , totally lost my prefernce for sweet pp.Dunno why this changed. I have recently , however, gained a greater appreciation for lemon meringue pie, due to the efforts of a quite humble local restaurant which seems to have perfected that recipe. That said please try the sweet pp - no whip cream necessary on that one, it's sweet enough as is. And btw. it has long been a personal belief that one of the surest little pleasures and treasures of life, that one can count on to bring a joy both exquisite and comforting in this oft unpredictable seesaw world - is a nice piece of pie. Enjoy ! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: JennieG Date: 29 Jan 20 - 05:49 AM Thank you, lefthanded guitar! When the weather finally cools down I will make a sweet potato pie, for sure......right now it's very hot, so the oven is staying firmly off. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: michaelr Date: 31 Jan 20 - 09:47 PM There is a difference. That said, I don't like either. Lemon meringue for me! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 Jan 20 - 10:38 PM Jennie, maybe you can bake on the pavement of your driveway? I agree, Lefthanded Guitar, a slice of pie is often sublime. People I've known over the years have had favorite pie or ice cream places, while I never hear about favorite cake or other dessert places. I have started making very small pies (in aluminum pans that might have been meant for tarts) and single-serving hand pies, and freeze them for later. Apple is easiest, but I make pumpkin pies, lemon meringue, and occasionally, banana cream pie. Maybe it's time to go hunt through the freezer to see if I have any more pumpkin from last fall. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pumpkin vs sweet potato pie From: JennieG Date: 01 Feb 20 - 01:35 AM Right now, Maggie, I think we could. We're enduring a heatwave......I must admit to being one of those folkses who suffers through summer rather than enjoying it. I like the idea of making small pies for the freezer, that sounds like a project for when it's cooler. |
