Skip to main content

Pumpkin Pie Tastes Better with Illinois Pumpkin

Chances are that canned pumpkin you got to make your pumpkin pie came from Illinois. Morton, Illinois, a village of about 17,000 people located about halfway between Peoria and Bloomington-Normal and about a 3-hour drive from Chicago, is the “Pumpkin Capital of the World,” so named because 85% of the world’s canned pumpkin is packed in Morton’s Nestle/Libby’s canning plant. 

According to Libby’s, the Morton area is perfect for growing pumpkins. Must be that rich Illinois soil. The Libby’s canning plant has been located in Morton for over 100 years. 

To celebrate its status as the World’s Pumpkin Capital, Morton holds a Pumpkin Festival every year. The 59th Annual Pumpkin Festival is scheduled for September 10-13, 2025. This year’s festival was held September 11-14 and featured such activities as a pumpkin pie eating contest, pumpkin decorating contest, pumpkin princess pageant, pumpkin recipe challenge, and pumpkin weigh off. In addition to the standard pumpkin pie, food available at the fest included pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin chili, pumpkin ice cream, and a variety of pumpkin baked goods including donuts, cupcakes, bars, and cookies.

But back to the pumpkin pie. You don’t have to feel guilty about eating it (maybe) because pumpkin in high in vitamin A and is a good source of fiber. It’s just not a Thanksgiving dinner without the pumpkin pie. This is my favorite pumpkin pie recipe. I really like the coconut milk in it. As an added bonus, it’s vegan. But non-vegans will love it too.   

Pumpkin Pie
*Crust, pumpkin pie spice, and filling all based on recipes from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken.                
Fills a 9-in. pie pan

For the crust:
1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/2 c. + 1 tbsp. vegan butter, cubed
1/4 c. soy milk
Whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Scatter cubes of butter into the mixture. Slice into flour with a pastry cutter until texture is crumbly. Drizzle in milk and combine. Mix until you can form it in a ball. Add a little more milk if needed.
Flour a working surface and rolling pin and roll out dough until you have a circle that is several inches bigger than the pie pan. Place dough into pan. Remove extra dough around edges. Pinch edges.

For the pumpkin pie spice: 
3 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ginger
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. cloves
Mix spices together and set aside. 

For the filling:
1 3/4 c. (14 oz.) pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
3/4 c. full-fat canned coconut milk (my favorite brand is Chaokoh)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. corn starch
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into crust. Spread out evenly with a spatula. Bake for 60 minutes. If edges are cracked and middle is wobbly, that's ok. Cool. Cover with foil and chill in fridge for at least 4 hours. 


Sources:

Morton, Illinois

Morton Pumpkin Festival

Libby’s Pumpkin, Morton Chamber of Commerce.

Morton, Illinois, Wikipedia.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Chicago-Style Bloody Mary for the City's Most Famous Ghost

There's a special tradition at Chet's Melody Lounge, a neighborhood bar located on Archer Avenue across the street from Resurrection Cemetery in southwest suburban Justice. Every Sunday, the bartender makes a bloody mary and leaves it in front of an open stool at the end of the bar. The seat and drink are reserved for none other than Resurrection Mary, Chicago's most famous ghost. I'll give you a recipe for a special Chicago-style bloody mary that you can use to make your own offering to this legendary ghost, but first here's a little more about Resurrection Mary. Chicagoans from all walks of life know about this vanishing hitchhiker ghost who haunts Archer Avenue and surrounding areas. Various songs have been written about her,* and her story was even featured on an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" in 1994.  The most common Resurrection Mary story goes something like this: A driver picks up a young woman in a white dress, often after a dance. When the car ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Simple Secret Behind Portillo's Famous Chocolate Cake

Chicago-based fast food chain Portillo's is known for its Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and, somewhat unexpectedly, its chocolate cake. While it's not exactly typical fast food fare, Portillo's chocolate cake has garnered a devoted following. But what makes the cake so popular? According to the book Iconic Chicago Dishes, Drinks and Desserts , Portillo’s uses a well-known brand of cake mix plus mayonnaise. Many copycat recipes for this cake posted on the internet also use these same ingredients, so the secret is out.  Portillo's got its start i n 1963 when Dick Portillo opened a fast food stand in Villa Park out of a small trailer he named "The Dog House." The trailer didn't have a bathroom and got its running water from a garden hose hooked up to a neighboring building. Today there are more than 70 Portillo’s locations across Chicagoland and the U.S., none of them in trailers. Portillo’s added chocolate cake to its menu during its earl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Green River: The Chicago-Made Soda with the "Bubbling Snappiness" of Champagne

It has a distinct lime flavor and color. It was once the second most popular soda in the Midwest. There's a rock song named after it. What is it? Green River soda, of course. Chicago-based Schoenhofen Edelweiss Brewing Company, maker of Edelweiss beer, bought the recipe and sales rights for Green River from Davenport, Iowa, businessman Richard C. Jones in 1919. Jones, the owner of a candy store with a soda fountain, had created Green River several years earlier. Jones wanted to create a soft drink with the “bubbling snappiness" of champagne and decided that lime flavor was the way to go. A local teenager was the first to use the name “Green River” when he ordered the drink at Jones's soda fountain and the name stuck.  During the Prohibition years (1920-1933), breweries were turning to manufacturing and selling non-alcoholic goods like soda, yeast, malt syrup, carbonated coffee and tea, and ice cream. Once Schoenhofen Edelweiss started making and distributing Green River, ...
Post a Comment
Read more