Gelology

According to the USDA,  1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins are produced commercially in the USA every year.  Now add the yield from home gardens and that's a lot of pumpkin.  I'm not sure of the percent that, as Linus put it,  'get killed' every year to become Jack O'Laterns, but the remaining pumpkins are converted into delicious recipes like ravioli, bread, and pies!

Working with the flavorful orange gourd, I wanted to take the essence of pumpkin pie and change the flavor profile every so slightly.   Here are the Pumpkin, Ginger, Sage and Cream Cheese edible cocktails.  

Pumpkin is a North American native. You can find several varieties around at farmers markets, including the delicious sugar pumpkin. We tried carving one of these a couple of years ago and kept eating the pieces as we cut them. We whittled the pumpkin down to nothing as we engorged ourselves on the flesh was so sweet and tasty. Sounds rather zombie-like!

For these edible cocktails, I used a pumpkin from the Davis Square farmers market.  I baked it and pureed the flesh with cream cheese.  In addition I added ginger, sage,  dark and light rum, and some Grand Marnier orange liqueur.

The results was an individual bite of pumpkin pie with a savory, earthy undertone.  More Halloween-themed pieces to come.