Never Settle For This Brand's Canned Pumpkin (Even Though It's The Cheapest)

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With autumn right around the corner, folks are turning their attention from lemonade and barbecue fare to pumpkin spice lattes and baked goods featuring the flavors of fall. It's a time when canned pumpkin becomes a pantry staple for when folks get the itch to make a tasty seasonal treat. But beware, savvy shoppers, not all brands are equal in terms of quality. According to a taste tester for The Takeout and an abundance of online reviews, one brand of canned pumpkin stands out for all the wrong reasons.

There are a few mistakes that can make pumpkin pie instantly gross, and apparently, one of them is using Great Value brand canned pumpkin as the base of the confection. The Takeout ranked canned pumpkin brands, and the most unfavorable rating went to none other than Walmart's Great Value product. Don't be fooled by the low price tag ($1.16 for me and $1.27 for the taste tester). What seems like a screaming deal on cheap canned pumpkin is actually a bitter, gritty, unappealing waste of money in our contributor's opinion.

Of course, it's never a good idea to make purchasing decisions based on only one person's impression. Well, it's not just our contributor who has an objectionable attitude towards the Great Value brand canned pumpkin. Plenty of other folks have shared their experiences about the product online, and while they certainly aren't all bad, some paint a picture you would rather unsee.

Overall, Great Value canned pumpkin enjoys a favorable rating on Walmart's website, but sometimes you learn more about the true nature of a product by reading the reviews of people who were less than enthused. Comments like "It has literally no pumpkin flavor and tastes like squash watered down" are too frequent to ignore. Some of the more detailed reviews of the product are downright repulsive. "The last five cans I have received, the pumpkin inside smells like bleach," commented one upset customer. "There is no way a team of product testers said this was suitable for consumption," said another. While most think it's an acceptable ingredient for use in baked goods, those who disagree have fierce opinions about how bad it is.

The most common and distressing complaint about Walmart's canned pumpkin — even mentioned in reviews that praised the product — is that the cans are often dented. That makes them a pain to open, but what's more concerning is that severely dented cans pose a botulism risk, which can cause a host of serious health problems like paralysis. Some Walmart customers who received deliveries of canned pumpkin with significant dents were too nervous to use the merchandise and ended up throwing it out, which is exactly what the USDA recommends. 

Perhaps the biggest proponents of Great Value canned pumpkin are those who feed it to their dogs. Given its appealing price, this makes sense as an affordable way of introducing fiber into your furry friend's diet. Still, if Fido could speak, would he be talking up Walmart's canned pumpkin or questioning why his owner is cheaping out instead of buying the good stuff?