Not to freak you out, but we might run out of pumpkins for Thanksgiving
Pumpkins are important and we want them to be around forever and always —or at least throughout the fall season. Can you imagine a Halloween or a Thanksgiving without a pumpkin pie? Without pumpkin soup? Without pumpkin smoothies? Well guys, according to the Chicago Tribune, we might have to envision this pie-less world. (And yes, we are feeling sad and weird and not OK with this vision one bit.)
According to the article, we are probably going to be okay for Halloween (phewf) — but by Thanksgiving, we might have a canned pumpkin shortage on our hands. The article cites Illinois crop experts who advise stocking up on pumpkin now rather than later.
Illinois is the top pumpkin producer, which means they definitely know what they are talking about. Many of the Illinois farmers believe that record rainfall this summer has something to do with the shortage. While most of us were welcoming rain this summer due to heat waves and droughts, Illinois farms had their crops tragically washed out. And Illinois isn’t the only state with pumpkin problems — The Columbus Dispatch reports that Ohio pumpkin crops suffered from heavy summer rains, too.
Mohammed Babadoost of the University of Illinois also advises getting your pumpkin game on early. “I would not wait until November 20th,” he instructs. Basically, if you find some canned pumpkin, buy it immediately.
The Chicago Tribune piece does say that Libby, one of the most well-known canned pumpkin companies, claims that they can supply enough pumpkin for the season —but that’s it. Roz O’Hearn of Libby added, “Once we ship the remainder of the 2015 harvest, we’ll have no more Libby’s pumpkin to sell until harvest 2016.”
But really —should we worry? Yahoo is more skeptical of this pumpkin shortage news, and reports Mohammed Babadoost claims he was actually misquoted. Yahoo insists, “Though there are fewer pumpkins to go around than in the past, he doesn’t anticipate that canned pumpkin will be hard to come.” Still. It looks like there will be LESS pumpkin to go around than normal.
So again, it’s probably best to stock on up. I personally don’t super duper love pumpkin pie, but I do super duper love pumpkin everything else. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip loaf, frosted pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin pancakes —obviously. I need canned pumpkin for all of those delicacies and I will definitely rush to the store right after writing this. Pumpkin, you cannot escape me.
Hey, look on the bright side. Even if you don’t get enough pumpkin to make your pies this year, you can always try something else!
Images via Shutterstock
