Can you use your New York Halloween pumpkins to make fresh Pumpkin Pie? Apparently, you can't. Here's why.

This discussion of pumpkins was sparked at a family party. We were decorating pumpkins with my children, and I made a joke about saving the guts for pumpkin pie. That's when my wives Grandmother stepped in and blew my mind. I guess you can't just use any pumpkin for pumpkin pie.

Just like there are lots of different varieties of New York apples, there are lots of different varieties of pumpkins too. We aren't just talking about really big ones, and really small ones. Some types of pumpkins make amazing jack-o-lanterns, while others make the best pies. Generally, if one is good at one of those tasks, it isn't good for the other.

If you're judging a book by it's cover, that may be pretty difficult to do with pumpkins though. According to the pumpkin experts at My Fearless Kitchen, there are some differences to spot right away:

Usually, the skin of a pie pumpkin is darker than the skin of a carving pumpkin, but that can vary a lot. Some pie pumpkins are deep orange, and some are “blonde” (very pale orange), and all the colors in between.

Another thing to notice is that pie pumpkins tend to be smaller than carving pumpkins. Even that though can be hard to spot right away because “pie pumpkins” can be small like the size of a softball, and some are bigger like the size of a cantaloupe or even a watermelon.

If you're questioning appearance, you can always turn to the inner pumpkin......it's guts:

Carving pumpkins (or jack-o-lantern pumpkins) tend to have pale orange flesh, and not very much of it. That makes it easy to carve through the flesh and make your fancy designs. Pie pumpkins have darker orange flesh. The flesh of a pie pumpkin is also quite thick."

Pie pumpkins have guts that are as stringy. It’s easier to scrape out in bigger chunks, rather than in stringy clumps like spaghetti squash.

If you have any other tips, feel free to share with us on our station app. Also, if you need pumpkins across New York, check out these patches:

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