I think I may have only just realised that Americans are just a little bit obsessed with the humble pumpkin.
If you have ever been in American during the autumnal season, you will know that Fall brings cooler temperatures, and colour-changing leaves, but it also brings an overwhelming display of pumpkins and anything and everything associated with pumpkins. I believe the pumpkin must be the unofficial symbol of autumn in the US; pumpkins are literally EVERYWHERE! I can’t liken this to anything similar in the Southern hemisphere, it is something uniquely American.
If you read my last blog about visiting the Dallas Arboretum’s Fall Festival – you might get a bit of an idea of what I am talking about – you will have seen some of the photos I took of all the pumpkins there – and the parents and children clamouring for photos with them. Yes, even I got amongst it and got a photo with some of the thousands of pumpkins on display there.
Decorator pumpkins
When I have been out shopping, it is impossible not to note that it is the season for pumpkins! Pumpkins adorn all sorts of decorator and household items for you to take home. Both food stores and hobby stores are all too willing to help you decorate for the Fall/Harvest season. Pumpkins themselves are also used as decorator items – you can buy bags of mini pumpkins, as well as the larger varieties (both real and artificial) to decorate with.
Besides decorating with pumpkins, the flavour of pumpkins has infiltrated it’s way into just about every food group as well. The pumpkin pie is, of course, an old favourite, but consumers are now inundated with pumpkin-spice flavoured everything!
Dunkin Donuts pumpkin spice coffee
The fault probably lies with Starbucks who introduced a seasonal pumpkin spice latte in 2003 – since then the number of items with a pumpkin spice flavour seems to have risen exponentially. Others have jumped on the bandwagon and offer pumpkin spice flavoured coffee at the supermarket:
McCafe pumpkin spice coffee
You can now find pumpkin spice flavoured Oreos, pumpkin spice flavoured M&M’s, pumpkin spice air freshener as well as everything from pumpkin-spice flavoured beer to pumpkin-spice flavoured chocolate! I am convinced America has gone a little pumpkin-spice crazy!
Here are a few items I came across whilst shopping recently:
Pumpkin Ale
Pumpkin Muffins
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Pumpkin Cider – no, I didn’t try it!
Pumpkin Chocolate!?
Pumpkin Spice Almonds
Pumpkin Spice biscuits
I have to admit, I haven’t actually tried any of these, but – has it all gone too far?
I roasted an actual pumpkin last night… peeled, cut into cubes, olive oil and spices. That was very good. I pretty much ignore the rest of these goodies because they come with way too much sugar. If I could still drink beer, I might give that a go but alas, no beer for me. Maybe there is pumpkin bourbon…
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Like all good Aussie parents, mum and dad desperately tried to get me to eat roast pumpkin as a kid. And like most Aussie kids I flat out refused, and still find the stuff horrid to the taste and touch. I never even tried pumpkin scones! It wasn’t until much later that someone introduced me to pumpkin soup which isn’t half bad. From what I understand, pumpkin pie is a southern delicacy, but for mine it just sounds like an excuse to pile as many different forms of sugar into one place as possible.
All of that being said, pumpkins do fit the colour scheme of the season – greens, golds, oranges and browns, a tribute to the colours of the leaves in the trees as temperatures cool and winter beckons. I love this time of year!
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