Nearly everyone that has grown up in the United States has fond memories of eating pumpkin pie, roasting pumpkin seeds or carving a jack-o'-lantern. I have fond memories of spitting seeds at my younger brother, watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and eating my mother's fresh-baked pumpkin bread.

The following recipe is actually an adaptation of my great-grandmother's recipe. She was affectionately called "Memaw," a Southern term for grandmother. I used the sugar-pie variety of pumpkin, which is smaller than the typical jack-o'-lantern pumpkin. The sugar-pie variety has ribbed skin, deep orange-yellow flesh, fine grain and a wonderfully sweet flavor.

1 cup clarified butter (see note)

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 cups mashed cooked pumpkin

⅓ cup water

1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions: To cook your pumpkin, cut the top off, split in half, and remove the seeds and inner pith (the spongy insides). Save the seeds for spitting at your younger brother or roasting.

Lightly salt the pumpkin and roast at 350 degrees for an hour to an hour and a half. You want the pumpkin to roast long enough to break down the starches and turn the fibrous flesh soft and sweet. Remove the outer skin and mash. If you have leftover pumpkin, you can make soup or pie with it.

Next, combine the above ingredients in a mixer or large mixing bowl. Blend them until they are creamed and the pumpkin has dispersed.

In another mixing bowl combine the following:

3¼ cups all-purpose flour or cake flour

1½ teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

Mix these ingredients well and combine with the pumpkin mixture. Mix well and pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out without batter.

Note: Clarified butter is butter tslowly and gently until the oil separates from the butter solids and water. You can clarify butter on your range over low heat in a small sauce pan. Use only the oil on the top for the recipe. You can use the leftover oil as cooking oil or, since you have gone through the process, make some fresh hollandaise sauce.

• Brady Deal works with Sysco Foods and can be reached at deal.brady@sea.sysco.com