A longtime fall favorite, pumpkin spice, has dominated retailers and the food industry every September through December. But where did the flavor come from? It had to have an origin, and I set out to find it.
Many sources, including the Washington Post, attribute the fame of the flavor to Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte, which is celebrating its 13th anniversary this year. The PSL is Starbucks’ most popular seasonal beverage, and Forbes estimated it earned Starbucks more than 100 million in revenue last fall. Forbes believes Starbucks to be the cause of the rising trend in pumpkin-flavored food as they found a correlation between the rise in the PSL and the pumpkin-flavored food.
Other sources, like the Chicagoist, attribute the fame to an older and darker past. The very first mention of something akin to pumpkin spice showed up in American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, an American orphan. Her flavor was originally called “pompkin” and involved molasses, allspice, and ginger. One of the earliest mentions of pumpkin spice by its name is a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cakes in an article in the Washington Post in 1936. It was called “Spice Cake of Pumpkin Newest Dish: Delicacy Tempting to All Appetites and Easy to Prepare. Ideal Dessert for Family Dinner, Healthful for Children.”
The first pumpkin spice to not contain pumpkin was from McCormick in the 1950s. It was a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and sulfiting agents.
Today’s pumpkin spice is a combo of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, and occasionally actual pumpkin. Food stores sell anything from pumpkin spice flavored vodka to straight pumpkin spice for the cook who wants to experiment with the fall flavor his or herself.
However popular Starbucks’ latte might be, the true cause for a rise in popularity and value probably must be attributed to the limited time offers most stores place on it. By placing a time limit on when a consumer can buy pumpkin spice, stores have driven up its value by the thousands. Limited time offers are a tool used by many marketers.
