Photo: cardamom, Flickr
Nestlé, the parent company of Libby's Pumpkin, said Tuesday that it might not have enough canned pumpkin for the Thanksgiving holiday.
"Our calculations indicate that we may deplete our inventory of canned Libby's pumpkin as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday," Paul Bakus, vice president for Nestlé's baking division, told the New York Times.
Commercial pumpkin-producers in Midwestern states blame the shortage on heavy rains and thus overly wet fields. With little back-up supply from a lackluster 2008 pumpkin harvest, West Coast organic pumpkin growers are trying to fill the void.
"We're still shipping canned pumpkin by the truckload," said Tracy Miedema, national sales and marketing manager of Farmers Markets Foods, an organic canned pumpkin producer.
Even if this does turn into the "year without the pumpkin" (of the canned variety anyway), don't skimp on the pie. There's plenty of pumpkin to go around ... you may just have to purée your own.
[Via New York Times]
11-18-2009 @12:52AM rainey Smith said... There actually was a shortage a few months ago and in my area stores stocked shelves with puréed sweet potato when they ran out of pumpkin. But I don't see any evidence of any shortage now. The canned sweet potato is gone and there are whole abundant displays of pumpkin in all the markets.
Could this be an attempt to instigate a little anxiety to get people into a hoarding mentality?
Reply
11-18-2009 @9:26AM LinC said... I don't think Libby is out to create a false shortage. There really was a bad pumpkin harvest this year. I think they just want to alert people like me who really, really require pumpkin pie for the perfect Thanksgiving. I always keep a can of pumpkin in my pantry during the year because I like pumpkin bread so much. I'd better go check the shelves...
Reply
11-18-2009 @10:27AM SJRL said... When will people stop falling for these fake stories, I guarantee this 'story' originated in their marketing department. The same story is tried a few times a year by various companies / industries.
Reply
11-18-2009 @10:42AM Blockhead said... We knew many families that couldn't find a pumpin this year for Halloween, so the story rings true for me.
Reply
11-18-2009 @11:24AM Cyn said... Last year there were no sales and no leftovers after Thanksgiving, and I expect to see the same thing this year also.
However the prices on Halloween pumpkins was less and there was a much bigger selection. Remember that these are two different varieties- the kind for Halloween is tasteless and stringy and is not meant to be eaten.
I won't be hunting for over priced fresh pumpkins to cook myself.
Sweet potatoes are abundant, cheap, and much easier to cook, and are a great substitute especially here in the south where we love our sweet potato pie and sweet potato casserole with lots of marshmallows and brown sugar.
Reply
11-18-2009 @12:53PM Stephanie said... I went to Trader Joes yesterday and bought a can (not Libby's). Better safe than no pumpkin pie!!
Reply