Most cultivars are edible, and you can make pie out of your giant ‘Jack-O-Lantern’ or ‘Howden’ Halloween gourds, but the flesh tends to be watery, stringy, and not-so-sweet.

So what are the best pumpkins for pies, purees, and other sweet treats?

The short answer is this: those that have been cultivated specifically for use in cooking and baking.

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Carving squashes have been grown and hybridized to have that classic, large Halloween look, while pie pumpkins aren’t there for looks (though they’re often adorable.)

Instead, they exist to delight your tongue.

Let’s find out which cultivars you should plant in your garden this year, so you can enjoy homegrown pumpkin pie this fall.

The line between “pumpkin” and “squash” is blurry at best and downright confusing at worst.

I’ll clear things up for you: pumpkin is a type of winter squash, Cucurbita pepo. Some pumpkins are cultivars of C. maxima and C. moschata.

In this list, we’ve selected the best pie pumpkins from each of these species.

A good pie gourd won’t be overly large, especially if it’s a C. pepo variety, as the big ones tends to be stringy and watery – not exactly pie material.

If you’ve ever taken a massive field pumpkin and tried to turn it into puree, you’ll know what I mean.

The smaller C. pepo cultivars have a mild, sweet flavor with dense flesh that’s ideal for cooking.

C. maxima and C. moschata varieties have thicker flesh with a bolder, often sweeter taste.

And if you have no idea how to turn your homegrown gourd into puree, never

Cucurbits Laura Ojeda Melchor Winter Squash