Best Places To Buy Long Island Cheese Pumpkins

Long Island Cheese Pumpkins, also known as Long Island Cheese Squash, are a medium to large-sized pumpkin variety, weighing between six and 15 pounds. They are known for their distinctive appearance, resembling a wheel of cheese with their flattened, medium-ribbed shape and tan or buff-coloured skin. This variety is renowned for its sweet, dense, and earthy flavour, making it a popular choice for pumpkin pies. With its fine-grained, stringless flesh, the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin cooks up velvety smooth.

Long Island Cheese Pumpkins thrive in well-drained, nutrient-rich soil and require full sun exposure. They are typically grown from seeds and take around 100-105 days to mature from planting to harvest.

If you're interested in growing or purchasing Long Island Cheese Pumpkins, several online retailers offer seeds, including Johnny's Selected Seeds, Baker Creek Seeds, and Truelove Seeds. You may also be able to find the pumpkins themselves at local produce markets or pumpkin farms, especially during the fall season.

Long Island Cheese Pumpkin seeds

Long Island Cheese Pumpkins are a medium to large-sized variety, typically weighing between 6 and 15 pounds. They are known for their distinctive appearance, resembling a wheel of cheese with their flattened, medium-ribbed shape and smooth, tan skin. This variety is a longtime favorite for pies, with a deep orange, mildly sweet, and stringless flesh that cooks up velvety smooth.

When growing Long Island Cheese Pumpkins, it is important to note that they require full sun and well-drained, nutrient-rich soil. They should be planted after the last frost when soil temperatures reach at least 65°F (18.3°C), as they cannot tolerate frost. In cooler regions, seeds can be started indoors 3-4 weeks before the last frost and then transplanted outdoors. Sow the seeds 1/2-1 inch deep, spaced 3-5 feet apart in rows or mounds to allow room for the vines to sprawl. Keep the soil moist until germination and water regularly, providing about 1-2 inches of water per week. Fertilize every few weeks, especially when the plants begin to flower and set fruit.

With proper care, your Long Island Cheese Pumpkins will thrive and provide you with an abundant harvest. Each pumpkin will contain many seeds, which can be saved for future plantings or used in various recipes.

Long Island Cheese Pumpkin farms

Long Island Cheese Pumpkins, also known as Long Island Cheese Squash, are a medium-to-large pumpkin variety, weighing between six to ten pounds. They are known for their distinctive appearance, resembling a wheel of cheese with their flattened shape and tan or buff-coloured skin. This variety is prized for its sweet, stringless, deep orange flesh, which is ideal for cooking, especially in pies.

If you are interested in growing your own Long Island Cheese Pumpkins, you can purchase seeds online from several retailers, including Johnny's Selected Seeds, Truelove Seeds, and Baker Creek Seeds. These seeds can then be planted on your own farm or in your garden. The seeds should be sown in late spring or early summer, after the last frost, and require warm soil of at least 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The seeds should be planted about half an inch to one inch deep and spaced a few feet apart to allow room for the vines to sprawl.

When it comes to purchasing already-grown Long Island Cheese Pumpkins, your options may vary depending on your location and the time of year. In general, you can try local produce markets and pumpkin farms, especially those that specialise in unique or heirloom varieties. It is worth calling ahead to check if they have Long Island Cheese Pumpkins in stock before you make a trip.

For example, if you live in or near Pottstown, Pennsylvania, you can try Hill Creek Farm, which is known to grow this variety. Additionally, if you are in Washington State, you may be able to find them at local produce markets and pumpkin farms, as one food blogger from the area has reported success in doing so.

Long Island Cheese Pumpkin recipes

Long Island Cheese Pumpkins are a local variety historically used for making the "best-tasting" pumpkin pie. They are also used in a variety of savoury dishes, including soups and stews. The pumpkin is named for its resemblance to a wheel of cheese, with a squat, flattened shape and a smooth, tan skin.

Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Soup

Courtesy of Chef Stephan Bogardus of North Fork Table & Inn

This recipe yields 64 ounces or eight 8-ounce servings. The prep time is 30 minutes, and the cook time is 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• Long Island cheese pumpkin (4 pounds roughly)
• 1 leek, cut into quarters
• 2 green apples, halved and seeded
• 2 shallots, cut in half
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 fennel bulb, sliced

Instructions:

• Cut the pumpkin into quarters and remove the seeds (save them for later).
• Preheat the oven to 400°F convection.
• In a roasting pan, lightly coat the pumpkin, leeks, apples, and shallots with oil. Lightly season with salt and pepper.
• Place in the oven and roast until all the vegetables are golden brown, approximately 30 minutes.
• While the pumpkin is roasting, melt the butter in a large pot. Add the onion and fennel slices and cook over low heat, stirring as needed and adding seasoning lightly.
• Wash and coat the pumpkin seeds with salt. Place them on a baking tray and put them in the oven when you remove the pumpkin. Stir the seeds every 10 minutes and cook until crisp.
• Once the pumpkin has cooled, remove the skin and discard it.
• Combine the roasted pumpkin and vegetables into the pot with the onion mixture.
• Add orange juice, water, and cream. Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn down to a simmer.
• Grate in some nutmeg and add salt and black pepper to taste.
• Simmer the soup for 20 minutes.
• Puree in a blender and pass through a fine strainer.
• Sprinkle a few seeds on top before serving.

Josephine Columbus Ettlinger’s Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Pie

Courtesy of Ken Ettlinger

Ingredients:

For the pie crust:

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more to flour the board
• ¾ cups vegetable shortening
• ⅓ cup of ice-cold water (more or less)

For the pumpkin custard:

• 1 small cheese pumpkin (12 to 14 inches in diameter)
• 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar

Instructions:

• To make the pie crust, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the vegetable shortening and add the egg.
• Moisten with enough water so that the dough comes together and you can form a ball. Cut the dough in half and roll out each half to form a 12-inch circle.
• Transfer to two 8-inch pie plates or press the dough into the plates with floured fingers.
• To make the custard, cut the cheese pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Dry the seeds to plant next year.
• Cut one half into 3- by 4-inch chunks and microwave for 12 minutes until soft. Reserve the other half for another use.
• Scoop out the cooked flesh (you should have about 2 cups). Put the flesh into a food processor or blender and add the evaporated milk, sugar, eggs, and spices.
• Blend until it is a smooth puree.
• Pour the pumpkin custard into the uncooked pie shells and place in a preheated 400°F oven.
• Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and bake for another hour or until the filling has puffed up and solidified.
• Remove from the oven, let cool, and then refrigerate. Serve cold.

Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Soup

Courtesy of Out East Foodie

Ingredients:

• 1 Large Long Island Cheese Pumpkin, roasted
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 medium Milan turnip, chopped (any turnip will do)
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground clove
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon of sea salt
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 can of unsweetened coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of black pepper
• 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
• Pumpkin olive oil for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds, and set them aside.
• Lightly apply olive oil to the flesh of the pumpkin and bake until tender. Cover with tinfoil if it starts to burn.
• Once the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh and set it aside.
• In a soup pot, heat olive oil and sauté the onion, carrot, and turnip.
• Once the onion is translucent, add the spices, salt, and pumpkin purée. Then add the stock and deglaze.
• Blend until smooth using a hand immersion blender (or a food processor/blender if the mixture is cooled).
• Add the brown sugar and coconut oil and blend again. Adjust the seasoning to your taste.
• Garnish with roasted pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of pumpkin olive oil, if desired.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Courtesy of

Long Island Cheese Pumpkin history

The Long Island Cheese Pumpkin, also known as the Long Island Cheese Squash or simply Cheese Pumpkin, is a medium-to-large pumpkin weighing between six and 10 pounds. It is thought to have first been grown in Central or South America before making its way to the Northeastern United States via trade in the 1500s. By the 1700s, it had become popular in East Coast gardens, and in the 1800s, it was brought into mass production, with its stringless, sweet flesh revered for making pumpkin pies.

However, in the mid-20th century, modern food production favoured other pumpkins that were easier to process on a mass scale. As a result, the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin almost went extinct in the 1960s and 1970s. Its decline has been attributed to the rise of the canned pumpkin industry and the preference for rounder pumpkin varieties with smooth surfaces that rolled off conveyor belts with ease.

The story of its revival is often attributed to one man, a lone seed saver on a mission. In the late 1970s, Ken Ettlinger, a local seed saver and former professor at Suffolk County College in Riverhead, New York, noticed that fewer farms were growing the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin due to retailers not selling its seeds. He began saving the seeds from whatever cheese pumpkins he could find, and his efforts travelled to Maryland, where a squash seed breeder, Curtis Sylvestor Showell, planted and grew enough seeds to supply a commercial retailer.

Thanks to Ettlinger's seed stewardship, the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin was reintroduced commercially in 2012 by Steph Gaylor of Invincible Summer Farms on Long Island, other local seed stewards, and Ken Green of the Hudson Valley Seed Company. They formed the Long Island Regional Seed Consortium, a not-for-profit dedicated to education, advocacy, and research to foster and nurture local seed systems. The mission of the consortium's Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Project is to preserve, restore, and bring culinary awareness of this local variety.

Long Island Cheese Pumpkin appearance

The Long Island Cheese Pumpkin is a medium-to-large pumpkin, weighing between six and 15 pounds. It is known for its resemblance to a wheel of cheese, with a flattened shape and a subtly ribbed texture. The skin is smooth and tan or buff-coloured, similar in hue to butternut squash, while the flesh is deep orange and stringless. The stem is slender and woody.

The Long Island Cheese Pumpkin is a popular heirloom variety, first grown in Central or South America before making its way to the Northeastern United States via trade in the 1500s. By the 1800s, it was commercially produced and celebrated for its sweet, stringless flesh, ideal for pumpkin pies. However, in the mid-20th century, it was largely replaced by other pumpkins that were easier to process on a mass scale. Today, it remains a beloved variety, known for its versatility and long storage life.

Frequently asked questions