I always need to have a can of pumpkin puree on hand. If I see a can in the scratch and dent bin, I'll pick it up (even if it's July). It started when I was living in Mexico. The mild, semi tropical climate of Guadalajara was beautiful, allowing for outdoor living year round! The school "lunch room" was a cluster of picnic tables outside, even during the winter. Most of the time, it was lovely to be outside and not in a climate controlled box.
The only downside I saw was there was no gradual, cozy change into autumn. Looking at friends post pictures of fall leaves, plaid scarves, and cozy sweaters made my homesick. As with many Americans living overseas, I tried to capture some of the fall feeling through décor and food. Though Guadalajara had many modern shopping conveniences, you wouldn't often be able to the find the quintessential fall ingredient...pumpkin. Or if you did, it would reflect the cost of importation.
We would bring pumpkin cans back to Guadalajara in suitcases (despite it being a rather heavy commodity). I wonder now if paying the extra price for importation in the grocery store might have actually been better than the risk of paying overweight fees on luggage? However we got it, it was worth the price for fall.
I also had a plethora of pumpkin recipes on Pinterest boards, savoring many different options in my head. In the end though, I didn't actually use pumpkin very much since I don't love cooking or baking, but I did want to be careful to have it on hand, just in case!
At the time I was getting ready to move back to the States long term, I made several pumpkin desserts in June and July to use up the cans I had stored. There was no need to bring my store with me now because I was flying back to the land of pumpkin plenty!
The habit continues though. It is October, time for seasonal treats. I just happen to have some pumpkin puree on hand...
Photo by Diliara Garifullina on Unsplash (because, true to form, I haven't actually made anything yet).
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