Nothing Says Fall Like Pumpkin Spice

Nothing Says Fall Like… well pumpkin of course! The era of the apple is over and pumpkin is officially in. More specifically Pumpkin Spice is making it big. If you haven’t heard of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte (also known as “PSL”), I don’t know where you have been for the last decade because this baby has been the shining star of autumn.

This year marks Starbucks’ 10 year anniversary of the Pumpkin Spice latte and according to Micheline Mayard, contributing writer at Forbes.com, Starbucks has sold over 200 million of these delicious lattes over the years. It was so good they started a Facebook page! With the flavor’s obvious popularity Starbucks capitalized on it making the drink a seasonal option and adding the flavoring to some of their other products.The drink has gotten so popular that last year Starbucks ran out!

Other companies noticed how genius this marketing idea was and created a slew of pumpkin spice flavored products. The Huffington Post has a slide show full of supermarket brands that have added the flavor to their line up such as

Planters Pumpkin Spice Almonds, Kashi Pumpkin Spice Flax granola bars, and Thomas Pumpkin Spice bagels to name a few! It doesn’t end there though we can get our pumpkin fix at Dunkin Donuts with one of their pumpkin flavored coffees (and K-cups), Krispy-Kreme for a pumpkin spice donut, or if you are looking for a pumpkin induced buzz, ale brands such as BlueMoon, Samuel Adams and Angry Orchard are all making pumpkin spiced flavored beer. 

Now not only is pumpkin spice making its way through our pantry but also showing up in our beauty regime! According to Yahoo News, pumpkin spice scented shampoos and body lotions will be on the market this year. Now you can eat, drink and bathe in pumpkin spice! 

We can see that pumpkin has been making it big these last few years but what happened to apple as the fall flavor? I have fond memories of going apple picking, making apple pie and drinking warm apple cider; which are staples of fall. But Venessa Wong, associate editor for Bloomberg Businessweek, gives us her take on why pumpkins have bumped out apple as the fall flavor,“….pumpkin is more autumnal. While it still symbolizes fall with apple picking, cider pressing, and farmstand donuts, we all eat apples 365 days a year….[t]he same is not true for pumpkin: It remains a fall food and seems likely to stay as such.”

So pumpkin had the perfect storm to make its way into our hearts for fall I hope everyone enjoys their pumpkin spice flavored coffees, donuts, cakes, creamers, and -maybe some apple cider too, as Halloween and Thanksgiving approach. 

As a parting gift here is a link to Mashable’s parody movie trailer for “Pumpkin Spice”– a hilarious commentary on how pumpkin spice has taken over!

So what do you think about the Pumpkin Spice craze? Do you believe that pumpkin has taken over as the Fall Flavor? Leave questions and comments below!