🌻 From Seed to Slice: The Pumpkin Pie Journey
🌻 Important Links from This Lesson
🥧 Farmhouse Pumpkin Pie Recipe »
Buttery, creamy, and made with real pumpkin — just like we did in class!
🥖 Farmhouse Pie Crust Recipe »
The easy, flaky crust you can make in a food processor — enough for a top and bottom!This week’s lesson invites you to make pumpkin pie from pumpkins you’ve grown yourself — or from a fresh one you pick up at your local farm or market. 🌱
Growing Gratitude: How our Pumpkins Became Pie
If you planted pumpkins back in early June, you’ve been part of the full growing cycle! You tucked seeds into the soil, watered them through hot summer days, watched bees visit the blossoms, and waited as tiny pumpkins formed and grew. Now, as the vines begin to fade, it’s finally harvest time — and time to turn your pumpkins into pie.
Start by choosing a fully ripe pumpkin with a hard shell and deep color. Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds (save them to roast later!), and place the halves cut-side down on a baking sheet. Roast until tender, then scoop out the soft, golden flesh — this will become your homemade pumpkin purée.
Through every step, you’ll discover something new. When your pie finally comes out of the oven, take a moment to notice what you’ve created. You didn’t just bake dessert — you completed a full circle of learning, from seed to harvest, from garden to kitchen, from raw to delicious.
It’s more than a pie; it’s a lesson in growth, care, and gratitude — the true flavor of fall. 🥧🍂
🧪 The Science of Pumpkin Pie
Exploring the chemistry of comfort food!
When you pull a golden pumpkin pie from the oven and see it gently jiggle in the center, you’re not just baking — you’re watching science in action. Pumpkin pie is more than dessert; it’s a custard pie, which means its filling depends on a perfect balance of liquid, fat, sugar, and protein.
🥚 Why Pumpkin Pie Is a Custard Pie
A custard is any mixture thickened by eggs rather than flour or starch.
In pumpkin pie, the eggs mix with pumpkin purée, cream, and sugar. When heated, the proteins in the eggs unfold and link together, forming a delicate web that traps the liquid — turning the filling from thin and runny to smooth and sliceable.
If we could peek inside the pie with a thermometer, here’s what we’d see:
Around 100°F – still thin and soupy.
Around 150°F – starting to thicken.
Around 170°F – perfectly set! Smooth, creamy, and firm enough to slice.
Above 180°F – too hot! The proteins tighten and squeeze out water, which can cause cracks or a grainy texture.
That’s why bakers do the wiggle test: when the edges look set and the center just barely jiggles, the inside has reached that ideal temperature — and your pie is ready to cool.
🍬 What Sugar Does
Sugar isn’t just for sweetness — it’s a texture helper.
It slows down how quickly the egg proteins tighten, giving the pie a silky, custard-like texture instead of something rubbery. Sugar also helps with browning, adding that gentle caramel color and deep flavor.
🥛 The Role of Cream
Cream adds richness and keeps the custard soft and velvety. The fat in cream acts like tiny cushions between the egg proteins, preventing them from over-tightening. That’s why pies made with heavy cream taste so smooth — it balances the chemistry just right.
🌾 In the End
Every slice of pumpkin pie tells a science story — a lesson in how temperature, timing, and balance work together to turn a simple mix of eggs, cream, and pumpkin into something magical.
So next time you see that gentle jiggle in the center of your pie, remember: that’s the exact moment when science — and dessert — meet. 🥧✨
✏️ Pumpkin Pie Science Lab!
Be a Kitchen Scientist and discover the magic of baking! 🧪🥧
Grab your pencil, your curiosity, and maybe a grown-up helper. It’s time to explore what happens when eggs, cream, and pumpkin turn into pie!
👩🔬 Before Baking — Make Your Predictions!
Use your five senses like a real scientist.
👃 Smell: What do you notice about the spices?
👀 Look: What color and texture is the filling?
✋ Feel: Is it thick, thin, smooth, or bumpy?
Now make your predictions:
What do you think will happen in the oven?
How will the filling change?
What do you think the texture will be when it cools?
Draw or write your best guess! ✍️
🔥 During Baking — The Experiment!
Watch carefully (from a safe distance!).
When do the edges start to set?
Can you see the center wobble when you jiggle the pan?
How long does it take for the pie to look “just right”?
💡 Tip: The perfect pumpkin pie jiggles gently in the middle — that’s when the inside reaches about 170°F, the magic custard temperature!
🍰 After Baking — Time for Observations!
Let the pie cool, then slice and study your results:
What changed in color, texture, or smell?
Did the center jiggle or stay firm?
How does the texture feel when you slice it?
Do you see any cracks or bubbles? What might have caused them?
Record your time, temperature, and what you noticed — just like a scientist!
Then enjoy your research results… with a fork. 🥧✨
➗ Pumpkin Pie Fractions — Learning You Can Eat!
When it’s finally time to slice your pumpkin pie, don’t just think about dessert — think about math! Every slice shows how fractions work in real life.
Start with your whole pie:
The entire pie is 1 whole — just like the number 1.
Now slice it into equal pieces and count:
Cut it in half → each piece is ½ of the pie.
Cut each half again → now you have 4 equal pieces (quarters).
Each slice = ¼ of the pie.If you cut each quarter in half again → 8 equal pieces!
Each slice = ⅛ of the pie.
🍽️ Extension Ideas
Visual Fractions: Write “1 whole,” “½,” “¼,” and “⅛” on paper circles and let kids cut or color them to match the real pie.
🥧 Sharing Story
Our Farm Family has 8 people gathered around the table and one pumpkin pie in the center.
If we cut the pie into 8 equal slices, how many slices does each person get?👉 Answer: Each person gets 1 slice, or ⅛ of the pie.
You can even say:
“One whole pie divided by eight people equals one-eighth each!”
Then ask follow-up questions:
“What if two people decide to share one slice — how much do they each get?”
“What fraction of the pie is left if 4 people haven’t had their piece yet?”
🧡 Farm Family Tip
Fractions make sense when you can see and taste them — and pumpkin pie is the sweetest math lesson of all.
🍂 What’s So Special About Pumpkin Pie Spice?
Pumpkin pie spice is one of those magical blends that smells like fall in a jar. But here’s the fun secret — it doesn’t actually contain any pumpkin!
It’s a mix of warm, comforting spices that were once rare treasures from faraway lands. Centuries ago, ships carried cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves across oceans from Asia to Europe, and eventually to the Americas. When these spices met the humble North American pumpkin, it was a perfect match — sweet, earthy, and cozy all at once.
Each spice adds something special:
Cinnamon brings warmth and sweetness.
Ginger adds a bit of zing and brightness.
Nutmeg gives a smooth, nutty flavor.
Cloves and allspice deepen the blend with richness and aroma.
🧂 Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice
The scent of fall, all in one jar!
You only need a few pantry spices — mix them once, and you’ll be ready for every fall recipe from pies to pancakes.
Ingredients
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
Add all the spices to a small bowl or jar.
Stir or shake well until evenly combined.
Label and store in an airtight container in a cool, dark spot for up to a year. When you mix them together, they create that familiar scent that makes us think of baking days, harvest time, and home. 🍁Because it’s already pre-mixed, it’s super handy when you don’t want to measure each one separately.
🌾 Farm Family Tip
Have kids measure and mix the spices — then name their blend and make their own label!
It’s a perfect sensory activity (the kitchen will smell amazing) and teaches real-life measuring skills.
🎃 What to Do With Extra Pumpkin Purée
Don’t toss those leftovers — try one of these cozy, from-scratch ideas!
You can make pumpkin everything — coffee creamer, pancakes, muffins, marshmallows, and (thanks to a sweet Farm Mom suggestion!) even pumpkin pasta. 🍝
Looks like that’s next on my to-do list! 🧡
Farm Family Tip: I freeze any extra purée in quart-size freezer bags — about 15 ounces per bag — so it’s ready to grab for any recipe that calls for a regular can of pumpkin.
🎃 6. Which Pumpkin Makes the Best Pie?
Not all pumpkins are the same — and that’s what makes baking from scratch so much fun! Each variety has its own color, texture, and flavor, so every pie can taste a little different depending on what you grow or buy.
Sugar Pie Pumpkins – These are the classic “baking pumpkins.” They’re small, deep orange, and have sweet, smooth flesh that’s perfect for purée.
Long Island Cheese – Shaped like a wheel of cheese, this old-fashioned heirloom has pale tan skin and a creamy, almost buttery flavor.
Jaradale Pumpkins – That’s the one we’re using today! It’s a beautiful blue-green pumpkin from Australia with thick, orange flesh. It’s less watery than many orange pumpkins, which makes the purée rich and velvety — perfect for pie!
Cinderella (Rouge Vif d’Étampes) – A French heirloom with bright red-orange skin and a naturally sweet, smooth texture.
Fairytale and Musquee de Provence – Gorgeous, deeply ribbed pumpkins often used for both decoration and cooking — their flesh is dense and richly flavored.
When you roast your own pumpkin, you’ll notice the purée might be a bit thicker, darker, or lighter depending on the type — and that’s part of the fun. Each pumpkin tells its own story!
So whether your pie is made from bright orange Sugar Pies or cool blue Jaradales like ours today, you’re making something truly special — a one-of-a-kind pie from your own harvest. 🥧💛
🥧 When Pumpkins Met Pie
Long before pumpkin pie smelled up every kitchen in November, pumpkins were just… pumpkins.
They grew wild in North America, bright and bumpy, beloved by Indigenous peoples who roasted, dried, and mashed them into hearty stews and breads. Sweet and filling, they were a staple long before anyone thought to tuck them into a crust.
Then, in the 1600s, English settlers crossed the ocean with trunks full of spices and traditions — including their love of pies. But there was no wheat for flour at first, no ovens for baking crusts, and sugar was a rare treasure. So they made do with what the land offered.
Imagine this:
A hollowed-out pumpkin sitting right in the hot ashes of a hearth, filled with milk, honey, and spices brought from home. As it baked, the pumpkin softened and sweetened, turning its own shell into the world’s first “crust.” Families would scoop the custardy filling straight from the pumpkin with wooden spoons.
Over time, as colonists built mills and traded for flour, that baked pumpkin pudding found a new home inside a pastry shell. Recipes began appearing in early American cookbooks — some calling for molasses instead of sugar, others for cream, or even apple cider. Each generation tweaked it a little more until, by the late 1700s, “pumpkin pie” had earned a permanent spot at the table.
By the time Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday, pumpkin pie was already a symbol of home, harvest, and gratitude — a dessert born from creativity, resourcefulness, and a love for the land.
So the next time you bake a pie, remember: you’re carrying on a tradition that began in a hollow pumpkin by the fire — when the Old World met the New, and something truly sweet was born. Thanksgiving-inspired post connecting food and community.
🎃 Why We Make Our Own Pumpkin Pie
Sure, you can buy pumpkin pie at the store — but making it from scratch is where the real fun (and learning!) begins!
When we roast and mash our own pumpkins, we get to see what’s actually inside — the seeds, the stringy pulp, the soft golden flesh that turns into the heart of our pie. It’s not just baking; it’s discovery!
Every step teaches something:
🧪 Science: Watching the raw pumpkin turn soft in the oven, then creamy in the blender, and finally firm in the pie dish.
📏 Math: Measuring cups, counting eggs, and timing each step — all real-life math!
💪 Patience: Nature and baking both take time, but the reward is worth it.
And there’s something special about knowing exactly what’s in your food — no mystery cans, no extra syrup or flavoring. Just real pumpkin, fresh eggs, cream, and a little maple syrup. It’s full of the good stuff:
Vitamin A to help your eyes see in dim light 🌙
Fiber to keep your tummy happy 🌾
Natural sweetness from maple syrup and pumpkin instead of loads of sugar 🍁
When we make our own pie, we’re not just feeding our bodies — we’re feeding our curiosity.
We can taste the garden, the sunshine, and the hard work that went into every slice.
So when you take your first bite, you’re not just eating dessert — you’re enjoying a story that started way back in June when you planted your pumpkin seed. 🥧💛
🥧 Don’t Forget the Crust!
And YES — you do need to add your pumpkin filling into a pie crust. 😉
We didn’t make crusts with the kids today (there’s only so much time in one Farm School class!), but if you’re baking at home, here’s my go-to recipe. It’s buttery, flaky, and the food processor makes it SUPER easy!
We actually froze our crust first before adding the filling — it helps the bottom bake up sturdier and keeps it from getting soggy.
👉 Farmhouse Pie Crust Recipe »
📸 Share Your Slice!
If you make your own pumpkin pie at home, we’d love to see it!
Tag us on social media @K2Acres so we can celebrate your from-scratch creations. 🥧🌾💛
