But, if we can put aside for a moment our commitment to local foods and slaving over the stove, let me advocate for canned pumpkin, because it is what so many relatives and other things on Thanksgiving aren’t: reliable. You do not want your pumpkin pie watery, or difficult, or anything other than what you will it to be with the cocktail of spices you spike it with. The pie is not fundamentally about mashed squash but that flavor combination that has launched a billion regrettable lattes — cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, maybe a pour of Armagnac? With canned pumpkin you can focus on taking pumpkin to places Starbucks cannot, instead of wrestling a wheelbarrow of hard gourds into submission.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 08, 2018 20:30 UTC