Elijah Dickinson deserves a ‘pumpkin seed’ of respect

By far, Illinois grows more pumpkins than any other state in the country, and the Village of Morton, Ill., is known as the “Pumpkin Capital of the World.”

The claim is indisputable, because nearly 90% of all canned pumpkin products sold in North America are processed at the Libby’s Pumpkin plant in Morton. Most of the pumpkins used for canning are grown locally within a 50-mile radius. They are trucked in “ripe-off-the-vine” during harvest season.

Morton’s “great” pumpkin story began when Elijah Dickinson moved from Kentucky to Eureka, Ill., in 1835. “At the time, he didn’t know he was carrying with him the seeds of a multi-million-dollar pumpkin industry,” say the proprietors of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co.

Elijah’s son, Roger Dickinson, purchased an existing cannery in Eureka in 1898. At first, approximately 50 men were employed to pack corn, beans and tomatoes. In 1902, Dickinson and Company experimented with canning flesh from the pumpkins grown on Dickinson family farms. Bingo.

As the business grew, new canning plants were opened nearby in Washington in 1909 and in Morton in 1925. All of the Dickinson operations were acquired in 1929 by the Libby, McNeill and Libby Company of Chicago. Soon afterward, all of the canned pumpkin production was consolidated at the Morton facility. (Nestlé USA acquired the Libby’s brand in 1972.)

The seed scientists at Baker Creek say the Dickinson pumpkin is “a medium to large tan squash, weighing 10-30 pounds or more. It is rather oblong, tapering somewhat at the blossom end with slight, flattened ribbing, firm skin and thick orange flesh.”

Joe Sevier, associate editor at Epicurious, a food and cooking website, picked up on that description right away, as he wrote: “The pumpkin pie you grew up eating…was most likely made not from pumpkin, but from squash.”

He revealed: “Libby’s Pure Pumpkin, the quintessential American canned pumpkin brand,” technically may be “golden-fleshed” winter squash.

Wisely, he chose not to rock the boat and wrote: “All we really care about is whether it tastes good. Just pop open a can and accept the fact that if it was good enough for grandma, it’s good enough for you.”

Steve Stein of the Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star interviewed Roz O’Hearn, a communications executive with Nestlé USA. She said: “Libby’s Pumpkin is very high in fiber, which health experts say is vital to good health and often deficient in American diets. “This is why pumpkin is sometimes referred to as a ‘superfood.’”

Jaclyn London, the nutrition director at the Good Housekeeping Institute in New York City, commented: “Pumpkin is loaded with blood pressure-regulating minerals potassium and magnesium as well as iron.”

Jim Davis, the American cartoonist who created the “Garfield” comic strip, once wrote: “Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie.”

He’s correct on one out of three. Zucchini and pumpkin are technically fruits that taste like vegetables.

The University of Illinois extension office offers confirmation that the Pilgrims did invent a pumpkin custard dessert (but it wasn’t a dagnabbit pie).

Extension agents said the early American settlers would cut off the top off the pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and stringy goop, then mix in milk or cream, honey, eggs and spices. With the top back on, the pumpkin was placed in the hot ashes of a cooking fire and baked.

This image led to the adage expressed by many chefs and diners alike: “Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.”

The brain seems to agree, especially when it comes to the aroma of pumpkin. A writer at the Live Science website, Rachel Ross, interviewed Dr. Catherine Franssen, assistant professor of psychology at Longwood University in Farmville, Va.

The smells associated with autumn season and the holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving “tap into our sense of nostalgia,” Dr. Franssen said.

“Smell is the only one of our senses that is transmitted directly to the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain,” Dr. Franssen said. “Before we even realize it,” she said, “pumpkin flavors can bring back warm memories of home baking, family time, parties and feasts, as well as other positive links with fall.”

Humans are wired to be “Peter, Peter pumpkin eaters.” Go with it.