Thursday, October 4, 2018

Pumpkin and Pumpkin Spice Overload?

Pumpkins, other winter squash, and upstate New York go together like - well, fall and upstate New York.  (and, at this time of year, overcast clouds go together with fall in upstate New York like.... but I digress).

Yes, I've finally been dragged, kicking and screaming, into fall.  Do I have a choice?

But once there, I love fall.

What is a pumpkin?  It is a  Cucurbitaceae, or a squash, related to melons, gourds, and cucumbers.  In the United States, until recent years, orange pumpkins were the most popular. Now, white pumpkins are also gaining in popularity. 


Heirloom squashes - green, warted, flattish, and others, are also making a comeback.  There are miniature pumpkins for tabletops, smallish pumpkins ("sugar" pumpkins) for pies, large pumpkins for carving and huge pumpkins for growing contests.

Pumpkins are used in other parts of the world, too, in various ways from decorations to soup.

I have never grown pumpkins, because they are far from my favorite food (although I love other winter squashes, especially butternut, honeynut, delicata and acorn), but they are easy enough to grow, especially where I live in upstate New York.

When I grew up, in the New York City of the 1950's and 1960's, pumpkins had three uses:

1.  Jack o'lanterns;
2.  Pumpkin seeds (roasted and sold as snacks; and
3.  Pumpkin pie.
 
Now, in upstate New York, and elsewhere in the United States, every prepared food in the fall seems to have pumpkin in it, whether you want it there or not.  It's been like that for several years now.

 Recently, I found the following for sale, besides the actual pumpkin fruit (yes, pumpkin is a fruit, but we won't get too technical here):

Pumpkin spice coffee (and lattes, at coffee shops)
Pumpkin oat cereal

Pumpkin quick bread and muffin mix
Pumpkin tortilla chips
Pumpkin bar mix
Pumpkin ice cream
Pumpkin spice mix
Sparkling spiced pumpkin cider
Pumpkin spice marshmallows
Pumpkin, canned (which, many times isn't really pumpkin but that's another blog post)
Pumpkin cream cheese spread
Frozen pumpkin ravioli
Pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling
Pumpkin flavored coffee creamer


How did eating pumpkins get to be so popular?  Yes, I know the flesh is nutritious, and the seeds are nutritional powerhouses. But still?  That taste?

Of course, a lot of the "pumpkin" is really pumpkin spice - spice used to flavor pumpkin pie (especially nutmeg, the use of which goes back thousands of years).  But still, if you don't like pumpkin around these parts, you are in trouble.

Do you like pumpkin? Pumpkin spice?

Day 4 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

18 comments:

  1. Now that my kids are grown, I only deal with pumpkins when the Jewish holidays are 'late'.

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  2. I'm in UK - and never tasted pumpkin. On my to do list.

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  3. Recently hitting the grocery store shelves - Pumpkin eggnog which actually has pumpkin in it. I revel in the pumpkin and pumpkin spice time of year and flavor. Perhaps because one of my earliest gardening memories was planting pumpkin seeds with my father when we lived in Vermont. We moved to Alaska when I was six. There, pumpkins were exotic things brought in by our tiny town's one grocery store as they don't grow well in the cool summers there. Now, living in Washington State where the countryside is littered with orange orbs this time of year and every grocery store, produce stand, nursery, and farm is piled high with a multitude of varieties, I feel like I'm in some sort of autumn paradise. Like you, I must be dragged, kicking and screaming, out of summer bliss but once I've reached acceptance of autumn, I love it and associate the pumpkin and pumpkin-spice flavored everything with the warm feelings of the season. Bring it on!

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  4. Pumpkin read/muffins are very popular at my house.

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  5. I do like pumpkin, and you are correct, as long as it is spiced.

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  6. Count me as one who loves pumpkin, especially in fall and winter soups, and pumpkin spice in many things but especially my coffee. I also look forward to fall for the pumpkin-pecan waffle at my favorite breakfast place.

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  7. Fortunately, I like pumpkin. The pie is my favourite, but I've been known to down a few muffins at a sitting. I also love the cookies. Now I have a whole new list to go through! Wish me luck...

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  8. Nah, never been a big pumpkin fan. (Our overcast days hit in the spring.)

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  9. Yes ! Love your article, Alana ! Thank you for the word "Cucurbitaceae".

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  10. Oh, those beautiful lymphoma and squash! I like squash better than things like pumpkin pie ... And do like pumpkin spices.
    After Halloween, my son-in love tosses the old pumpkins and seeds in a corner of their big garden, and lets them start the next year's crop!

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  11. I grew up in West Virginia in the 1980s and 1990s...and to me, pumpkins were also only good for those three things, lol. I absolutely hate pumpkin flavored food/drinks, despite my uh, obsession, with Halloween. I can stomach some pumpkin pie maybe once or twice a year, and I love pumpkin seeds...but for me, pumpkins are for decorating, lol.

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    1. Theresa,

      I was born in 1961 in southern WV and raised. I left my home state after I got married in 1979 to come to Knoxville TN. It's so interesting how the Internet brings people together. I didn't care too much for pumpkin as a kid but I like it quite a bit now. I'm not into pumpkin everything but select foods and drinks. :)

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  12. You made me laugh - out loud! It's so true that we go all-out crazy on the North American continent about pumpkins. And I didn't realize that cucumbers are in that family - so thank you for that info!

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  13. I love pumpkin. You are making my mouth water must blogging about it.

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  14. I love to decorate with all the different styles of pumpkin, I too live in the Northeast and we have a local shop that gets some really awesome looking pumpkins.

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  15. Wow - I thought that was just a Maryland thing! I saw a bag of pumpkin tortilla chips at my local Trader Joe's last weekend and thought, "Now who in the world wants to eat that?!" But clearly somebody wants it. (I'll still keep my Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks, though. They're delicious!)

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  16. Alana,

    I think the pumpkin craze is a fad and it will eventually change. I like pumpkin flavored foods...well somethings I do. However, I don't buy fresh pumpkin. I think canned pumpkin works very well for most baking I do and usually when I make pumpkin spice lattes I use coffee syrup. I did spot a home-made pumpkin spice latte recipe that I might try. It's a bit more trouble but I'm willing to give it a try one time at least. :)

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  17. I can go without pumpkin but will cook up squash in a heartbeat!

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