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