During the fall, pumpkin spice is everywhere. It’s in our candy, in our coffee, in our breakfast pastries, in our oatmeal, and coats any and every edible item that you can think of. That doesn’t make it right, and doesn’t even mean that all of these food items contain even a molecule of real pumpkin.
Why? “We’re clearly fascinated by the stuff, by the feeling that pumpkin spice represents,” Lowder notes. We might like the sweetness and spiciness of pumpkin-flavored items, but maybe more because they represent the mild weather and cider mill visits of fall, and not necessarily on their own merits.
However, he made a surprising discovery: in adding pumpkin pie spice to as many non-pumpkin foods as possible, he found that the blend improved most of them. There was, for example, pumpkin pie spice-rubbed pork loin. The real problem isn’t pumpkin spice overload: it’s that commercial pumpkin spice overload has burnt Americans out on the concept, and we’re more likely to reject concepts like the pork loin or even adding pumpkin pie spices to sandwiches and salad dressing.
In other words, skip the pumpkin spice M&Ms, Pringles, and booze. Spend your fall sprinkling different foods with the same spice blend and see where it gets you.