Pumpkin Shortage Leaves Store Shelves Bare

Thanksgiving and Christmas are still a few of months away but already people are preparing for their holiday meals. Unfortunately, one key ingredient to complete the holiday feast is missing from shelves.

Monday, September 28th 2009, 7:31 pm

By: News 9


By Charles Bassett, NEWS 9

EDMOND, Oklahoma -- Thanksgiving and Christmas are still a few of months away but already people are preparing for their holiday meals. Unfortunately, one key ingredient to complete the holiday feast is missing from shelves.

You can't have a holiday meal without pumpkin pie, but if you're looking for the canned product on store shelves, chances are you won’t find it.

At the Crest Supermarket in Edmond you can find the filling for just about any pie except for pumpkin.

“We're out of it at this time, have been for quite some time due to the manufacturer's shortages,” said Dale Brooks with Crest Foods.

Supermarkets across the country are seeing the same thing. Libby's, one of the largest makers of canned pumpkin products, blames bad weather for producing a less than stellar pumpkin crop this year, resulting in shortages of canned pumpkin.

“By all means, I'm hoping to have it next week…I'll put it that way. I can't guarantee it,” Brooks said.

If you can't wait, you can try making a pie the old fashioned way with a real pumpkin. Supermarkets are still selling whole pumpkins, or if you really want to rough it, you can go find a pumpkin patch and pick your own.

“The sugar-pie pumpkin is the best one to make pumpkin pies for and that's pretty much the popular ones,” said Kathy Stallings with Orr Family Farm.

The south Oklahoma City farm even has its own alternative to the canned pumpkin filling, something called pumpkin butter. It's their number one seller this time of year.

“The pumpkin pie filling you have to add all your ingredients to it to make your pumpkin pie. This is already premade, it's all in the jar, all your ingredients and everything,” Stallings said.

Libby's said they are harvesting pumpkins and they hope to start shipping the canned pumpkin to supermarkets starting next week. Libby's said its product is used to make an estimated 50 million pumpkin pies each year.

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