Maine news, sports, politics, election results and obituaries

Like many Maineers, Emily Muise of Trenton was busy making pies for part of November.

When she is finished, she has baked two pecan pies, one blueberry pies and four pumpkin pies, all of which are ready to be used in bake bazaars to raise funds to support women's education. For her pumpkin pie, Muise chose One-Pie Pumpkin because of its taste and quality, lively old-fashioned label, and the company's deep roots in Maine.

"Using it just makes me feel a little proud," she said.

Today, the pumpkins and squashes used by One-Pie are no longer grown or canned in Maine. But pumpkin cans and canned pumpkin puree are still reminiscent of Maine's past as a powerhouse in the canning industry.

One-Pie was originally manufactured at Medomak Canning Co. in Waldoboro and still lists West Paris as its distribution location on its label. In addition, according to the Secretary of State of Maine, the company is a reputable Maine company.

But its current connection with Maine is vague.

Multiple attempts to contact someone at One-Pie this week have been unsuccessful. The company has no obvious website or Internet presence, and two Maine phone numbers have been disconnected.

Melissa LaCombe, the deputy secretary of West Paris Town, said that every year around Thanksgiving, the town government receives many calls about One-Pie.

"We have no contact information," she said. "One-Pie used to be located in West Paris, but it has not been in West Paris for a long time."

At this time of year, another group that has questions about One-Pie is FamousFoods.com Inc., a company based in New Bedford, Massachusetts that sells canned One-Pie mud. About two years ago, One-Pie disconnected the Maine phone number that consumers used to contact the company. Since then, FamousFoods has received more and more calls from people asking about this.

"We try to help," the representative said.

Today, One-Pie pumpkins and squashes are grown in the Midwest, and canned purees are produced in the Midwest. This is a detail shared by Yankee Magazine a decade ago.

Sandy Oliver, an Islesboro food historian and Bangor Daily News food columnist, thinks this is a pity.

"Most canned food eaten as pumpkin pie is grown in Illinois," she said. "If we eat pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, we will all eat a little bit of Illinois. It's all very strange."

For about a century, canned food has played an important role in the state's economy. In its heyday, there were more than 100 fish, fruit and vegetable canning factories in the state. Many are located in small rural communities close to fields where crops such as sweet corn, blueberries, peas, green beans and pumpkins are grown. Thousands of men, women and even children work in these factories every year, and the industry only really started a few years before the Civil War and reached its peak during the Gilded Age.

By 1900, the state had about 75 "corn factories", so-called canned corn plants, and was one of the most important canned sweet corn producers in the country. Maine is also the only producer of canned sardines in the United States. At that time, the industry's annual valuation was about 5 million U.S. dollars, which is about 165 million U.S. dollars in today's U.S. dollars.

According to the Bureau of Industry and Labor Statistics, it is more valuable than the slate, granite, and ice industry combined.

"Canned food is an important part of Maine's economy," said Cipperly Good, director of the Searsport Penobscott Maritime Museum.  

Today, one of the remaining canned food producers in the state is Bar Harbor Foods in Whiting, which has been producing seafood specialties for more than a century. But Maine’s days as the nation’s main seller of canned food are basically over. The last sardine cannery in the state was located in Prospect Port and closed in 2010. This year the owner of the iconic B&M Beans factory that has been in Portland for more than 150 years sold the building and moved production to the Midwest.

It is not the only Maine canning company moving in this direction. Decades ago, One-Pie acquired a stake in Waldoboro, where the production of purees sometimes has problems. In November 1968, the Lincoln County News wrote that squash effluent was reportedly polluting the Meadowmac ​​River. The mayor told state environmental officials, “There is no doubt that there is pumpkin puree or fish being killed.”

Oliver finds that canned food is no longer an important part of Maine's economy is problematic. She said this is a bigger problem this year, because the ongoing supply chain disruption has led to a shortage of steel cans and tin cans for food production.

She said that if more Maine companies can process fruits and vegetables close to their planting areas as they have done in the past, this may reduce supply chain disruptions and benefit Maine. Even if the supply of steel and tin from overseas is in short supply, there are solutions.

"It is entirely possible, especially in industrial countries, that pumpkins and squashes can be put in jars," she said. "The world now is a very strange place. I would love to see us return to regional food again."

More articles from BDN