West Haven Pumpkin Patch Picking, Recipes

WEST HAVEN, CT — Spending more time at home amid the coronavirus pandemic means more time for baking and one option for the peak pumpkin season in West Haven is turning those pumpkins picked at local patches into made-from-scratch pies.

Sure, canned pumpkin will do the trick. It's healthy and packed with nutrients, and some of the top cooking websites say it stacks up well against the homemade pumpkin purée and saves busy cooks a ton of time.

But there's something soothing, meditative and cathartic about digging into the pumpkin with your hands and scooping out the stringy innards and seeds. The coronavirus culinary revolution reflects our collective hunger to take control of at least one thing in our upended lives. #StressBaking isn't just a social media hashtag.

Just dress for the occasion, and wear gloves if the sliminess is too much for you.

The first thing you need to do is head to one of the pumpkin patches in and around West Haven. Here are some of them:

• B & B Flower Farm at 668 Jones Hill Rd, West Haven. Monday-Thursday: 12 PM-8PMFriday-Sunday: 12 PM-9PM
• Filanowski Farms at 389 Wheelers Farms Road in Milford. "Our pumpkin patch is bountiful from the harvest and ready for your pickin's." They are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week.
• Robert Treat Farm at 1339 New Haven Ave. in Milford. They are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
• Treat Farm at 361 Old Tavern Road in Orange. According to their website, "Come fall time, the farm comes alive with holiday decorations grown on site. Pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks and mums are available in many different varieties to make sure we get you what you need for decorating in Autumn. "The Famous Corn Maze: Treat Farm has been creating unique corn mazes each year that bring out the kid in all of us. A visit after Labor Day isn't complete until you tackle our 5 acre maze. You can make it even more challenging if you would like by trying one of our nightime flashlight mazes." Read More here.

Southern Living says small, round sugar pumpkins, sometimes called pie or sweet pumpkins, are the best pumpkins for baking. The stem should be brown, but still firmly attached, and check for blemishes and bruising. And don't get hung up on the color. As a pumpkin matures, its flesh dulls.

JoyFoodSunshine was our first stop on the spin around the internet in search of classic homemade pumpkin pie recipes. It requires an investment in time — a little over two hours — but blogger Laura says on her website the 10-ingredient recipe "is the only pumpkin pie recipe you'll ever need" and that "literally everyone" who tries it falls in love with it.

"It's a beautiful blend of creamy, spicy sweet flavors that encompass all that is wonderful about fall," Laura says.

Everything about this pie is made from scratch, from the crust to the dollop of homemade whipped cream added after it's been plated. Laura tells you everything you need to know, from the tools you'll need to how to know when the pie is done.

Sheri B., whose from-scratch pumpkin pie recipe is featured on Food.com, says the roasted pumpkin can be puréed using a sieve, food mill, blender or food processor, but she likes to create the filling with a hand potato masher.

For some cooks, secret pumpkin pie ingredients make for an unforgettable dessert. New York City-based food and wine writer Mandy Naglich's recipe on Taste Of Home calls for cracked black pepper.

"The best way to preserve the spiciness of pumpkin spice is with freshly cracked black pepper," Naglich writes. "It adds a robust bite to the traditional spice mix, which comes across subtly in each mouthful of pumpkin pie."

The pepper won't make the pie "spicy," but guests may ask where you got the super-fresh spices, she says.

"Food Hussy" Heather Johnson touts the secret ingredient in her mom's pumpkin pie recipe. For years, Johnson's mother refused to share the recipe, but eventually gave it up to her blogger daughter: It's Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry, a dessert wine.

After you've gone to all the trouble of baking from-scratch pumpkin pie, you may decide using a can of pumpkin pie filling is easier. But it's a coronavirus quarantine memory, and hopefully a pleasant one, that you'll always have.