The Shocking Truth About Pumpkin Pie

I'll let the gravity of the headline sink in, and allow you to go through the 5 stages of grief before I break the bad news to you: You probably haven't really had pumpkin pie in ages. It turns out that, as far as the FDA is concerned, a pumpkin and a squash are basically the same thing.

According to an article in the Consumerist, the FDA says that canned pumpkin can be made from either squash or pumpkin. You may be thinking that you can tell the difference, but chances are, you've never even almost noticed the difference. So, why would some of the food canners use squash instead of pumpkin?

It turns out that squash is a much cheaper plant to grow and, at least according to some people, tastes better and has a better consistency. I've only made one pie out of a fresh pumpkin, so chances are, all the wonderful pumpkin pie I've been eating was actually squash.

Here's the deal: according to the FDA, there is no difference between pumpkin and squash, so the canners can list "pumpkin" as the ingredient. It's all 100% legal, if not totally honest. I think I'm a bit outraged about this. If we can't depend on Del Monte to tell us the truth about what's in the can, what can we depend on?

Now I'm curious about what other products are being foisted on the public that are not what they claim to be. One hopes that such tactics do not carry over to meat. Maybe the FDA considers a vulture a turkey? Oh my gosh, Thanksgiving as we know it is done.

So now I can sit back and enjoy my pumpkin pie that is made of squash, with a huge dollop of Cool-Whip - and God knows what that's made from!