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In years past, I would wait impatiently for the day when pumpkin spice lattes would once again appear on menus and pumpkin spice cream cheese in supermarkets.
In the last few years though, as the number of pumpkin-spice products began to multiply, my interest began to wane. No longer did I look for the pumpkin season signs at the Dunkin Donuts near my apartment or count down the days until pumpkin pie would be available at supermarkets.
My ambivalence was replaced with disgust late last month when, on my lunch break, I walked into Price Chopper and was confronted with what looked to me like a blatant overreach of pumpkin spice season: pumpkin spice Cheerios.
Of all the pumpkin spice products out there, I don’t know why Cheerios insulted me the most. Maybe it’s because I’ve always viewed Cheerios as sacred and above the fray of passing fads. Pumpkin spice, I suppose, offended my sense of tradition.
But the monstrosity didn’t end there: pumpkin spice Eggo waffles alongside frozen pumpkin desserts. Even the revered Ben & Jerry’s had gotten into the act with their special edition Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream.
It got worse the next week when I stopped into Hannaford’s and was greeted by a table full of products, with a sign shouting “We’ve got pumpkin!” and listing even more options: Pumpkin spice ham and pumpkin spice salmon. When would this nightmare end? Is there any product that pumpkin spice won’t touch?
No, apparently there isn’t. Just when I thought the worst was over, there was Land O’ Lakes touting its limited edition pumpkin spice butter. Curiosity about its color wasn’t sufficient to get me to fork over the money to give it a try.
Still the list continues. A simple Google search shows even more products that are victims of the trend:
Pringles (Is this for real? Yes, yes it is.)
Pumpkin spicemallows (The thought of one in a s’more makes my stomach turn.)
Kale chips (Guess they don’t want healthy eaters to be left out.)
Seltzer (Why?)
Salsa (What are they hoping to achieve?)
Oreos (As the company has also come out with cookies flavored like cinnamon buns, root beer floats and red velvet cake, it does fit into its why-would-you-do-that-to-a-perfectly-good-cookie theme)
Fruit wine (I thought pumpkins were a vegetable.)
Burnett’s vodka (The already bottom-of-the-barrel brand also has flavors in maple syrup, candy cane and hot cinnamon. Is there any level to which it would not sink?)
Hummus (I don’t want to know.)
Candy corn (Which is disgusting enough as it is.)
So what, exactly, is the reason for this madness?
It’s a question King Arthur Flour spokeswoman Katie Walker is asked every fall.
“The market is oversaturated with pumpkin spice because that’s the demand of the consumers,” Walker said. “They wouldn’t be out there if there wasn’t a demand for it.”
Walker is quick to point out that there is a big difference between pumpkin spice and pumpkin flavoring. Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves are the flavors most prominent in pumpkin spice products.
“Pumpkin would be the flavor of actual pumpkin,” Walker said, comparing its taste to that of a sweet potato. “It’s very rare to just taste a pumpkin.”
Pumpkin spice seems to have a following that is much greater than other seasonal flavors such as eggnog. Walker attributes that to the nationwide nature of the trend.
“Everywhere in America gets a fall,” she said. “It’s very nostalgic and people can relate to the changing weather of fall other than say winter and Christmas.”
Pumpkin spice used to be just limited-time treat that added to my enjoyment of fall. After making these supermarket discoveries, I bought the pumpkin spice cream cheese and pumpkin spice bagels I used to look forward to in college. The flavors fell flat on my tongue and I wondered what the appeal was to begin with.
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
