Mountain harvest…

Fall is all about harvest here in the North Carolina mountains, and nowhere is that more evident than in my parents’ garden. 

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My mother, who is of Cherokee descent, always grows candy roasters, which she eventually makes into the yummiest pies ever.

Candy roasters are a type of heirloom squash and were grown by the Cherokee when European settlers first came to the mountains. They are sweet, not stringy, and *so* much better than pumpkins. In fact, we never eat pumpkin here.

My dad will cut these up into chunks, which my mom will cook in the oven, then puree for pies, tortes, etc. 

The bears like them too and tried to get this one when it was much smaller:-) I bet they would LOVE the pies too!

If you live in the southeast, you can probably find candy roasters at your local farmers market. You will find they are definitely worth the hunt when you bite into that first piece of warm “pumpkin pie” made with candy roaster on a home made crust:-) 

I’ll try to get my mom to do a video showing how she makes her pies along with my grandmother’s amazing and perfect pie crust before the holidays get here.

Thanks for stopping by:-)

9 Comments

  1. Pam - @diy Design Fanatic
    September 24, 2014 / 8:24 pm

    Those are awesome Anita! I'm going to have to grow some of them.

  2. Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things
    September 24, 2014 / 9:33 pm

    I have never had a candy roaster but they sound delicious!

  3. Unknown
    September 24, 2014 / 10:06 pm

    I have never heard of a candy roaster or even seen them! I am going to have to look them up as well and try to make filling with them for Thanksgiving. I would love to see a video of homemade crust. I really enjoyed the buttermilk biscuit tutorial! Blessings!!!

  4. Pamela Gordon
    September 25, 2014 / 12:33 am

    These are a new pumpkin to me, Anita. I'm not a big pumpkin pie fan at all but I enjoy muffins and cookies made from good old ED Smith pumpkin in a can. LOL

  5. Deanna
    September 25, 2014 / 3:06 am

    Hi Anita.
    Think the variety of pumpkins is awesome and surprising.

    Loving pumpkin pie made form someone else besides me is a treat! grins. Every time I have tried to make pumpkin pie it fails. Whah.

    Will give it another try in the future. The whipped cream makes it all better.
    Blessings,
    d

  6. Terri
    September 25, 2014 / 1:27 pm

    Never heard of a candy roaster…… looking forward to the video tutorial!!!!

  7. Pamela
    September 25, 2014 / 1:36 pm

    Those are amazing and I bet taste zoo yummy Anita. I can smell your mama's kitchen from here.

  8. Sara
    September 25, 2014 / 1:58 pm

    We've always made pies from squash–SO much better than pumpkin! Your pictures make my mouth water just thinking about them.

  9. Barbara F.
    September 25, 2014 / 6:59 pm

    I bet the pies are delicious! And that crust recipe is probably amazing, too.