Pumpkin Shortage Means No Pie for Thanksgiving

Email this| Posted Nov 18th 2009 2:30PM by Susan Wagner

Pumpkin pie is a holiday tradition -- but not this year. Credit: pbody, Flickr

Planning on serving pumpkin pie next week for Thanksgiving? You might want to find a back up -- maybe pecan pie, or some spicy gingerbread. What's wrong with pumpkin pie? Nothing -- except that there aren't any pumpkins available this year.

Rainy conditions in the midwest this fall have washed out the pumpkin crop, leaving retailers at a loss for canned pie filling. This week, the LA Times reported that Nestlé, which controls 85% of the pumpkin crop for canning, was all out of pumpkins. The company issued a surprise apology, saying that the rain had destroyed the remains of an already-small crop. Nestlé plans to stop shipping canned pumpkin after Thanksgiving, and the company says that once this season's supply is gone, there won't be any more pumpkins available for canning until August 2010.

That's a long time to wait for a slice of pumpkin pie.

If you're quick, you can find pumpkins for next week's dinner. Some stores still have canned pumpkin on the shelf, and are anticipating being able to meet consumer demand through Thanksgiving. Albertson's stores in the LA area, for example, have enough canned pumpkin to get them through next week, at $2.99 for a 29-ounce can. The chain also says they will not be raising prices to reflect the shortage.

Once Thanksgiving is over, though, there are no guarantees. Daymond Rice, a spokesman for Safeway Inc.'s Vons markets, said the chain is "concerned that we may not have enough -- or will not be able to acquire enough -- product to get through the full holiday season. It remains yet to be seen." Again, may we suggest a nice pecan pie?

The pumpkin shortage isn't new news -- Holidash covered it back in October, when it was affecting Halloween Jack O'Lantern planning -- but things have gotten more dire since then. And really, who doesn't look forward to a big slice of pumpkin pie after a delicious turkey dinner?

Then again, this could be the year that mincemeat makes a comeback.

[Source]

slgbm2 11-19-2009 @ 7:12AM

A pumpkin shortage? Walmart was marking them down for 3 weeks before Halloween got here because they had to many!!

tedrowleeves 11-21-2009 @ 1:50PM

When they run out of pumpkins for pie, use butternut squash - or yams - all taste similar.

sharon 11-19-2009 @ 7:18AM

Good thing I don't carve mine pumpkins and just cook them like you would any squash and make my own pie filling.
slgbm2 the wal mart here is selling them for $2 a piece right now.

James 11-19-2009 @ 9:04PM

I guess Walmart has gotten ALL of the pumpkins and is now has a overstock of them. After they sell off their $2 pies (that are no good) there will be no pumpkins left.

Lotte 11-19-2009 @ 7:40AM

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!! Give me a bloody break!

Teri 11-19-2009 @ 7:42AM

I am not sure where they have been talking about pumpkins. Midwest has had an abundance of them so they should have been canned a while back.

beerbubba9 11-19-2009 @ 7:43AM

Pumpkin shortage may the corporate idiots who buy the pumpkin should look alittle harder for them. I was doing a logging job last month at 50 acre farm of pumkins, the farmer had a company in pick'in the pumpkins they were done in about a weeks time. When they left there was 10 acre not touched and the other 40 acres were still full of pumpkins of all sizes that would have been good canning the farm told me the what was left of the crop would just sit and rot and be tilled in to the field next spring what a waste.

Jon 11-19-2009 @ 8:07AM

Bob 11-19-2009 @ 8:24AM

Use yams or sweet potatoes. Taste is very similar and most people would never know the difference. You still get your taste and texture and won't miss the pumpkin. Now, how easy was that?

Pat 11-19-2009 @ 8:29AM

Pumpkin shortage? Pshaw! Growing up in New England we had squash pies for the holidays. You simply substitute cooked squash (you can buy it in the frozen boxed vegetable section. It is actually a little milder than pumpkin. Happy Thanksgiving!

bill 11-19-2009 @ 8:59AM

Head East.. All the growers around eastern Pennsylvania seem to grow punkins for Halloween. The fields are full of unpicked and rotting punkins.

Matt 11-19-2009 @ 8:41AM

I live in the Midwest, and we had one of the biggest pumpkin crops ever! At Halloween, pumpkin prices were half of what they were last year because there were so many. Something is not right here...

DJ 11-19-2009 @ 1:36PM

They are trying to give the consumers a reason for a price increase. It is the same way with orange juice and frozen waffles.

Victor 11-19-2009 @ 8:58AM

FALSE ALARM***FALSE ALARM***FALSE ALARM..another AOL misinformation.
I just received a reply to an inquiry I made when i found no can pumpkin in my markets. Libbyus wrote back and said yes there was a shortage due to crop weather damages last dear and that now production was back to evels and stores woould have a good supply through the holidays.

LW 11-19-2009 @ 9:13AM

It's stupid articles like this that cause shortages. Yes, there is a pumpkin shortage this year compared to year's past, but there is more than enough supply to handle everyone's holiday needs as long as no one reads stupid articles like this, panics and runs to the stores to "stock up" on more product than they need. I've been a grocery store manager for more than 30 years and I've seen this time and time and time again. It all started years ago when Johnny Carson jokingly mentined a toilet paper shortage on the Tonite Show and sure enough, customers ran into the store the next few days and wiped everybody out.....instant shortage.

khrysta 11-19-2009 @ 9:26AM

what a joke. ALL canned pumpkin isn't really even pumpkin. It's Hubbard Squash.

Miss 11-19-2009 @ 9:44AM

Well sadly here in Washington there are so many pumpkin patches and many, many go to waste, I passed a field maybe a five acre lot full of left over from Halloween and the crows and geese were having a field day! I've never seen that many crows in one location, it was like the movie, "The Birds". I look out there and see all the people that are out there hungry and all that is going to the birds!

It ialso makes good soup, stir fired iwith veggies. Pumpkin is a healthy food, not just for pie ya'll!. Try it!

THE GENIE 11-19-2009 @ 12:02PM

Most companies DO NOT USE pumpkins.

The sqush gives a bigger return for filling.

noname 11-19-2009 @ 10:41AM

thanks for sharing all of your comments. you really helped get the truth out there.

Buzzman 11-19-2009 @ 9:48AM

Have the Oil companies must have taken over the pumpkin business ? Just another case of more GREED.

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