Solid Pack Pumpkin

Did last year's canned-pumpkin deficit leave you in short supply? If you're starting to get worried come Halloween and Thanksgiving, simmer down: sources say pumpkin won't be in short supply this year.

Although 2009's wet Summer caused flooding and harvesting problems, less rain, a hotter season, and planting of a larger crop have helped out production at Libby's, the canned-pumpkin company that processes 95 percent of the solid pack pumpkin sold in America.
That's great news for the 50 million pumpkin pies that'll be made this holiday. Have you had a hard time locating canned pumpkin so far?

Recently, a co-worker came to me with a number of questions about canned, solid pack pumpkin: Is it sweetened? Does it have spices in it? What is it used for?

Well, Alexis — and anyone else curious to know — here's the answer you've been waiting for. Solid pack pumpkin is exactly that: just pumpkin, and nothing else (despite the misleading pumpkin pie that is often on the label). It's sometimes called pumpkin purée or "100% pure pumpkin" to distinguish it from the similarly named canned pumpkin pie filling, which contains sugar and spices.

Although you can make it yourself, buying solid pack pumpkin — which is free of preservatives — saves you the effort of seeding, roasting, scooping, and blending pumpkin flesh until smooth. The purée can be used as a time-saving measure when making pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin soup.

Have you ever bought solid pack pumpkin? What did you use it for?