Well, your Mom was at least half right; I happen to prefer a crust that uses half lard (leaf lard if you can get it) and half butter. Some old timers swear by goose fat or bear fat, but I haven't had the experience. Not sure I want it. ;-) And yes, you can certainly freeze the pie and pour on the simmering caramel after thawing the pie. I worked in bakeries for some time and it was our practice to hand-make and freeze hundreds of pies before every major holiday. Your pies will no doubt be much better than our mass-produced ones. It's very satisfying to make a good pie. This post was edited by marknmt on Tue, Jul 9, 13 at 20:15

There have been a number of posts re freezing pies by several members, but they tend to be buried in threads on other topics. Iowa State Extension says pumpkin pies can be frozen unbaked. The filling and crust should be chilled before assembling. However, the freezer life is relatively short, approximately 4-5 weeks. Other sources recommend baking the pumpkin pie, freezing and then thawing in the refrigerator. Recommended freezer life is 2-3 months. We have friends who in the fall do assembly-line processing of pumpkin purée and make many pies, which they bake in disposable aluminum pans, freeze firm and then vacuum-seal. They turn out all right (though I'm not wild about their recipe). Something which uses a lot of eggs and freezes very well is cheesecake. It could be a pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crumb crust, which would be far more freezer-worthy than pumpkin pie. Bejay's suggestion to freeze the eggs is probably the best and most versatile. Below is a link to an earlier thread on freezing pies. Pumpkin is mentioned, but only in passing. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: Freezing Apple Pies?

I've seen recipes for skeeter pee on the winemaking sites I read, but being so far from citrus country it has never been an option. I can imagine it's great though! Jalapeno wine sounds weird, but I'd try it. Couldn't hurt... ok, it might hurt a little - in passing! It was tough to clean so many pears. I'm looking to fashion a fruit press for the next time I try to make that much. How much juice did you wind up with from your apples? Was it 2 carboys? People don't always realize that in pioneer days, and when Johnny Appleseed was traveling around, one of the main reasons for apple trees was for hard cider! Without refrigeration, fermentation was one of the few ways to preserve a lot of fruit. It had so many uses too! When your batch is done, a nice wedge of pie and a sip of the wine will make for a nice evening's dessert!

What exactly is "approved" sources? I don't imagine the government approves any sources other than themselves, so who is doing the approving? Is there some kind of list somewhere you are referring to? Or do you mean only use recipes listed on the NCHFP website? The Ball Corporation (Jarden in Canada) publications on home canning have been held as THE approved source for over 100 years. The are often referred to as the canning bible and are well known for their ongoing research and updated publications on safety issues. This was long before the USDA or FDA came into existence. Also for decades Rodale Publishing was also regarded as totally safe in their canning publications. Unfortunately they quit maintaining the currency of their canning publications when NCHFP was created but with a few exceptions most of their publications are still valid. In addition there are the USDA and FDA publications, all the publications from NCHFP, all the publications from the many land-grant university extension services, and many publication from well-known food scientists such as Linda Ziedrich, Ellie Topp, Margaret Howard, etc. People who have the educational credentials and research background to know what they are talking about as opposed to the many bloggers and authors that merely subscribe to the "it hasn't killed anyone yet" school of science. There are a number of discussions here about what constitutes approved sources, which books are approved and which should be avoided, and reviews of various canning blogs pro and con. There used to be a number of MFP's (Master Food Preservers) that participated here on a regular basis and we made a concerted effort to review new publications and websites as they came up. Unfortunately Deanna and I are the only ones we have heard from since the move to Houzz but all that past info from the others is still available here and classes are available to anyone who wishes to takes them through their local county extension service. If you don't want to invest the time in getting the MFP credentials then take some basic classes or even the basic online course offered by NCHFP is a place to start. Honestly I find a lot of this kind of arbitrary. I'm sure it does seem that way when one is new to the process or has none of the underlying science training. But they aren't arbitrary. There are valid reasons, based in research and testing for all these guidelines. So everyone is left choices: (1) to either get the training so that they do understand it all and know where changes can and cannot be made (2) or accept them at face value and do them in order to have the assurances of safety they provide (3) or to challenge, question, ignore, and criticize them and just do their own thing when it comes to canning as long as they willingly accept the associated risks that come with that approach. The internet has plenty of blogs and forums that have adopted #3 approach and preach against the accepted guidelines. In some cases it is because they don't know any better, in some cases it is because they don't care, and in some cases it is because they claim to hate the government and reject all that it stands for or represents. This particular forum has long had the reputation of being safety oriented, or rejecting the make-it-up-as-you-go-along canning methods, and a place where those new to home canning can get safe advice. Are the guidelines perfect? Of course not. But they are the best and safest options we have available. Dave