The Pumpkin Quest

Americans in general, and me in particular, like pumpkin-flavored things, especially in recent years. Pretty much any season, but particularly in the fall, when I get in a baking mood, it somehow involves canned pumpkin.

Pumpkin scones? Check. Pumpkin fudge? Check. Pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust? Check. Pumpkin bread? Oh yeah, all the time.

Outside of my baking, I am also a big fan of pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks, pumpkin-scented Yankee Candles, and pumpkin pie Blizzards at Dairy Queen.

Europeans do not share our American obsession with pumpkin. In fact, the German language does not even have a word specifically for the orange gourd we know as the pumpkin. They just call it a gourd. They also do not sell canned pumpkin, nor use it much for baking, milkshakes, ice cream flavors or anything else.

When searching the Web to find out if I can obtain canned pumpkin somewhere in our region, I ran across numerous Europeans mocking Americans for our insistence on getting out of a can something we could bake and puree ourselves.

I ask you, which would you rather do? Hunt down the right orange gourd, wrestle a blunt knife into the thick skin with all your strength to somehow tear it into large pieces, scoop out the slimy innards and pitch them in the compost, then bake the pieces until they get soft, putting the pulp into your blender and having to squeegee it all back out into your recipe, finally washing the sink full of now dirty dishes ... OR pop open a can, scrape the contents into your mixing bowl and throw away the tin?

Seems obvious to me.

Fall is approaching and I'm experiencing the first twinges of panic. How am I going to get my pumpkin fix?

Fortunately, a number of people are on their way here from the States. I'm recruiting them as my personal shipping service for cans of pumpkin, since I know that's a pretty heavy thing to be shipping internationally.

I think Dad squeezed a can or two in his suitcase for me; at least, I asked him to and I know he put it on a list. A good friend is arriving for her vacation early next month and she said she'd see what she could do. Another friend is looking at tickets to visit a mutual friend here in October and I'm going to see if I can twist her arm long distance to chuck a few cans in her suitcase. And when I mentioned the possibility of contributing pumpkin fudge to an office open house in December, our office manager immediately volunteered to bring back a few cans when she returns from home assignment in November.

So, if each person brought me two cans, I'd be set. For a while at least. Now all I need is marshmallow creme...