{ "id": 3818, "date": "2026-09-30T11:33:05", "date_gmt": "2026-09-30T04:33:05", "guid": { "rendered": "https:\/\/dulcedesaigon.com\/en\/?p=3818" }, "modified": "2026-09-30T11:54:16", "modified_gmt": "2026-09-30T04:54:16", "slug": "pumpkin-puree-vietnamese-pumpkin", "status": "publish", "type": "post", "link": "https:\/\/dulcedesaigon.com\/en\/pumpkin-puree-vietnamese-pumpkin\/", "title": { "rendered": "From Vietnamese pumpkin to our puree" }, "content": { "rendered": "

From Vietnamese pumpkin to our puree<\/h2>\n

Every pumpkin item on our fall menu starts with Vietnamese pumpkin, b\u00ed \u0111\u1ecf<\/strong>, roasted in our B\u00e0n C\u1edd kitchen and blended into a house pumpkin puree<\/strong>. It is never canned and never a syrup. Six items use it: the Pumpkin Cheesecake, the Pumpkin Spice Cake, the Pumpkin Pie, the Pumpkin Pie Bar, the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pain Suisse and the Pumpkin Spice Latte.<\/p>\n

\"Pumpkin<\/figure>\n

What is b\u00ed \u0111\u1ecf, and why do we bake with it?<\/h2>\n

B\u00ed \u0111\u1ecf means red pumpkin. It is the orange-fleshed pumpkin Vietnamese cooks already know from soups and sweet desserts, and it grows in this country. So when we planned a fall menu, we started from the pumpkin that was already here, not one that had to travel.<\/p>\n

Fall in Oregon, where I grew up, means pumpkin pie, apple pie and pecans. Our menu keeps that shape.<\/p>\n

American bakes. Vietnamese pumpkin.<\/p>\n

How do we turn Vietnamese pumpkin into puree?<\/h2>\n

Our team in B\u00e0n C\u1edd does it in the same HACCP-certified kitchen that bakes everything else on the counter, down the alley off Nguy\u1ec5n Th\u1ecb Minh Khai. The method is short.<\/p>\n

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  1. Cut the pumpkins open and take the seeds out.<\/li>\n
  2. Roast them in the oven until the flesh is soft and the edges start to brown. Roasting drives off water, so the puree stays thick and tastes of pumpkin, not of steam.<\/li>\n
  3. Scrape the flesh off the skin and blend it smooth.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That is the house puree. It is the swirl in the cheesecake, the pumpkin in the sponge, the filling in the bar, the custard in the pastry and the pumpkin in the latte.<\/p>\n

    Roasted pumpkin tastes sweeter and deeper than boiled pumpkin, and it holds spice well. That is why the same puree can go into a cheesecake swirl, a sponge, a bar filling and a latte.<\/p>\n

    We keep the times, temperatures and weights to ourselves. You can taste the result at the counter, which is where we would rather you judged it.<\/p>\n

    Buying puree would be faster. We roast our own so that every step, from cutting to blending, happens in the B\u00e0n C\u1edd kitchen.<\/p>\n

    Which fall items start with our pumpkin puree?<\/h2>\n

    Cut into a Pumpkin Cheesecake slice and you can see the puree as orange ribbons through the cream-coloured filling. In the other items it sits out of sight, in the sponge, the filling, the custard and the cup.<\/p>\n