CANNED PUMPKIN
Colder weather, cozy sweaters, warm lattes, and some delicious pumpkin teats! Canned pumpkin puree is a simple and easy way to make tasty desserts in no time. This low calorie method will get you in the mood for autumn, no matter what season it is.
1. Benefits of Canned Pumpkin
1. Canned pumpkin is low calorie.
Pumpkin only has 83 calories per cup.
Calories are the unit of measurement for how much energy potential a food has. Your body needs calories, but not as many as the typical person in the United States eats. Most adults need between 2,000 and 2,500 calories each day.
Too many calories lead to weight gain.
All of the extra calories that you eat are converted into fat to store that energy for later use.
Restricting calorie intake, combined with exercise, helps you to lose weight.
Dieting along is not usually enough to lose weight. You must also speed up your metabolism (the rate at which your cells process and burn calories). Exercise can help you do this.
Pumpkins calories come packed with other nutrients.
The nutrient to calorie ratio in canned pumpkins is very beneficial to good health.
Pumpkin calories come bundled with fiber.
Fiber is necessary to keep your gut clean, to help you stay regular, and to lower your blood cholesterol.
EATSMARTER TAKE AWAY: Eating canned pumpkin may help you to lose weight and be healthier.
2. Disadvantages of Canned Pumpkin
1. You may be eating a lot of extra sodium.
Many canned goods have added salt (sodium), which helps to preserve the food.
During the canning process, salt is typically added in order to help preserve a food's color, flavor, and to keep it from spoiling.
Too much sodium can dehydrate you.
Sodium attracts water. When you have a lot in your blood, water is sucked out of your cells, leaving them dry.
Eating a lot of salt increases your blood pressure.
When water is sucked out of your blood, your blood thickens and your heart has to pump harder in order to push your blood through your veins.
EATSMARTER TAKE AWAY: Be careful to get canned pumpkin that doesn't have any added salt.
3. Top 100 Canned Pumpkin Recipes
4. Canned Pumpkin Recipes in Video
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5. About Canned Pumpkin
Kingdom | Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom | Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision | Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division | Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class | Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass | Dilleniidae
Order | Violales
Family | Cucurbitaceae – Cucumber family
Genus | Cucurbita L. – gourd
Species | Multiple
Pumpkin is a type of cucumber?
Pumpkin does belong to the cucumber family and so it could be considered one.
What's the difference between pumpkin and squash?
Pumpkin is actually a variety of winter squash.
What's the difference between a field pumpkin and a pie (sugar) pumpkin?
Field pumpkins are large, dry and flavorless. These are the ones that are used to carve into jack 'o lanterns. Sugar pumpkins are smaller and better for baking with (although the sugar pumpkin is not sugar, nor is it very well suited to make pies with).
6. Canned Pumpkin vs. Fresh Pumpkin
Despite the age-old thinking that fresh is better than canned, consider this: Canned pumpkin not only retains most of the nutrients of fresh pumpkin, but it has even more fiber and protein (7 grams and 3 grams, respectively). Similar to tomatoes, processing actually increases the nutritional value of these fruits, meaning you can enjoy their benefits year-round; just be sure to choose products that are without added sugars. Both fresh and canned pumpkin provide abundant beta-carotene (a precursor to vitamin A) and vitamin K, believed to reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, as well as potassium and iron. Both forms of pumpkin are good for using in baking; if using fresh pumpkin, consider roasting it first to deepen the flavor.
7. History of Canned Pumpkin
Our ideas of the first Thanksgiving are wrong about pumpkin pie.
What the pilgrims really ate was a treat made from honey, milk, and a few spices, baked inside of a hollowed out pumpkin.
Pumpkins originated in Mexico.
Scientists have found seeds from plants that are related to the pumpkin in Mexico. These seeds date back to to between 7000 and 5500 BCE.
Domestication: growing pumpkins with squash and sunflowers.
Evidence suggests that the early growers of pumpkins planted their crops along rivers. In addition, these people also planted squash and sunflowers.
Natives use pumpkins for food and as construction material.
Through many generations, the pumpkin served as both food and building materials. The tops were cut off and the inside contents were scraped out and were then roasted for food.
The outer shell would often be left near the fire in order to dry it out and turn it into a bowl. Sometimes strips were pulled from the shell and dried. These dry strips were woven into mats and other items.
The “three sisters”.
Once corn was discovered, it took the place of the sunflower. Indigenous tribes planted beans, squash (or pumpkin) and corn together in order to protect the crops from soil erosion and insect damage.
8. Q&A About Canned Pumpkin
Why doesn't raw pumpkin taste the same as canned pumpkin?
Even though you would think it was because the pumpkins are cooked in the canning process, this isn't the case. When you use pumpkins at home, you cook them before you use them too. There are two reasons why this happens. The first is that some canned pumpkins are from a variety that is only available to the manufacturer of canned pumpkins. The other reason is that what you're getting in the can is not pumpkin, but rather a squash or a mixture of squash and pumpkin.
Which state produces the most pumpkins?
Illinois produces about 70% of all pumpkins grown in the United States.
Who supplies most of the canned pumpkin?
Libby's (now a division of Nestle) supplies 85% of the world's canned pumpkins.
How is pumpkin puree made commercially?
The pumpkins are washed and then chopped apart automatically by machines. The pumpkin bits are then steamed to help loosen the shell and the seeds. Jets of water blast the seeds off. The bits of fruit are then dried in hot air. Next, these bits are pressed by rollers to get rid of any remaining water. The pumpkin is ground up and any remaining pieces of the shell are removed.
Was there really pumpkin pie served at the first Thanksgiving?
No. The pilgrims hollowed out the pumpkins, dropped milk, honey, and spices into the shells, and then baked the pumpkins in the embers of the dying fires.
9. Nutritional Information
| Calorie 45 | Calories from Fat 0 |
| Total Fat 0g | 0% |
| Saturated Fat 0g | 0% |
| Polyunsaturated fat 0g | |
| Monounsaturated fat 0g | |
| Cholesterol 0mg | 0% |
| Sodium 5mg | 0% |
| Total Carbohydrate 10g | 3% |
| Dietary Fiber 5g | 20% |
| Sugar 4g | |
| Protein 21g | |
| Vitamin A 100% | Vitamin C 8% |
| Calcium 2% | Iron 10% |
*Note, this if for a serving size of 1/2 cup or 125g.
10. Research
About
Arumugam, Nadia. "Why You Want Canned Pumpkin For A Better Pie, Not Fresh." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 19 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 June 2016. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2013/11/19/why-you-want-canned-pumpkin-for-a-better-pie-not-fresh/#19cc9bc158ec>.
Boboltz, Sara. "Here's Why Your Pumpkin Pie Probably Has No Pumpkin In It At All." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08 Oct. 2014. Web. 29 June 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/08/canned-pumpkin-pie-filling_n_5941122.html>.
Bonnie Plants. "Growing Pumpkins - Bonnie Plants." Bonnie Plants. Bonnie Plants, n.d. Web. 29 June 2016. <https://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-pumpkins/>.
Dunlap, Melissa. "Learn the Differences between Pie Pumpkins and Jack-o'-lantern Pumpkins and See Which One You Should Use If Making a Pumpkin Pie from Scratch." SheKnows. SheKnows, 21 Nov. 2012. Web. 29 June 2016. <http://www.sheknows.com/home-and-gardening/articles/998567/pie-pumpkins-vs-carving-pumpkins>.
Foster, Kelli. "The 11 Varieties of Winter Squash You Need to Know - Ingredient Intelligence." The Kitchn. The Kitchn, 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 29 June 2016. <http://www.thekitchn.com/the-11-varieties-of-winter-squash-you-need-to-know-ingredient-intelligence-157857>.
