I'm Not A Spice Girl

I know it started as a trend in coffee, but I have zero use for pumpkin spice (or pumpkin pie spice) in anything that isn't pumpkin pie. The image to the left is real - there are bags of pumpkin spice microwavable popcorn out there - but there are also a pile of other pumpkin spice products that range from Oreos to adult beverages to Spam. I don't know who is to blame for this phenomenon becoming bigger than it ever should have been, but you won't find it in any product in my house. Putting pumpkin spice in foods where it shouldn't be needs to be made illegal.

For those wondering, pumpkin spice is literally five ingredients: sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. All of those things individually are pretty good, and putting them together in pie form is something I wholely endorse. I know people take sugar in coffee to reduce the bitterness, but I've tried cinnamon in coffee and I wasn't a fan of it. The other three spices - nutmeg, cloves, and ginger - wouldn't even be considered for a cup of coffee.

Seattle-based Starbucks capitalized on the pumpkin spice phenomenon greatly by offering overpriced pumpkin spice lattes, and that popularity led to nearly every other restaurant offering a pumpkin spice offering for their coffee products. Being that coffee was only one practice in the food industry, it clearly spread to other foods as companies looked to capitalize on their own share of the phenomenon including ramen noodles, Spam, gum, sausages, and hummus. If you can dream it, you can pumpkin spice it, apparently.

While I understand that pumpkins are harvested and become part of popular culture during this time of year thanks to Halloween, I'm not a fan. I'm not saying you can't be as everyone has their own tastes and preferences for food, but we've been subject to pumpkin spice since mid-August as everyone brings their "limited-time" products back to market. Get those products while you can, and you can even take my share because pumpkin-spiced anything is borderline trash.

With pumpkins becoming far more available at markets and grocery stores now, let's get back to using pumpkin spice for pumpkin-based baking such as pies, muffins, and cookies. Leave the almonds, dog treats, and kettle corn for someone else to bring home, and let's get back to making pumpkin spice just what it is: a mix of five spices.

October is officially here, so hockey will start this week and we'll get more and more pumpkin references throughout the month. With the temperature dropping and more pumpkins being brought in off fields, it's feeling more and more like autumn every day. I don't need reminders in August that fall is on its way with another pumpkin spice marketing campaign from a thousand different products.

Just to make matters worse, it might be October, but expect to see Christmas stuff coming out at stores in the next few weeks. The doldrums of winter skies and sub-zero temperatures are upon us, folks, so make sure you get your pumpkin spice whatever-it-is before it's gone again!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!