I had an epiphany standing in the grocery store the other day. I had just added the weekly allotment of cheap white wine to the cart, and was pausing for all the tennis mommies zipping past me by the dairy case. I gazed slack-jawed at an enormous display of Halloween candy. Apparently people here take Halloween very seriously – a couple of weeks ago, back in August, two whole sections of island gondola shelving* were filled with an artful display of boxes and bags and packages of luridly colored Halloween candy.
I idly wondered which would be a better buy – a clear plastic clamshell box of candy corn, or a plastic sack of candy corn? I caught myself midway, reaching for the box, to see how many ounces it weighed, so I could compare it to the sack o’corn. What was I thinking? What would my dentist say? (She is still chuckling about the filling I ripped out of my mouth eating Easter jelly beans.) It was only September 1, for crying out loud. How much corn syrup and dextrose and sugar and shellac could I possibly cram into my maw in the next two months until Halloween? Knowing me, way, way too much. But then I suddenly knew – like the trigger of a sappy Hallmark Christmas movie – what all the fuss about pumpkin spices was about. People are just tired of summer – it’s time to change the scenery – it’s time bring on the heady aromas and flavors of fall. It’s comforting that seasonal rituals give us something to talk about, to anticipate. Can sweater shopping be far off?
I didn’t know that pumpkin spice season was such an huge deal. And that Starbucks controls it all. They announced pumpkin spice season began on August 25, and so it was. (I don’t drink coffee, so much of what Starbucks pronounces goes over my head.) Cinnamon, pumpkin, iced pumpkin cream, pumpkin spice Frappuccino ™ (trademarked by Starbucks), dustings of pecans, even iced banana bread. I guess it is easier to conjure up a drive-through 390 calorie cup of latte, than to wander into the kitchen to bake a simple loaf of pumpkin spice bars. Although the calories might be about the same for a single serving, I’ll opt for the warm, homemade, and sweet.
Pumpkin Pie Bars
You can keep your fancy cups of Iced Banana Bread Latte. Starbucks’s Pumpkin Spice Season Announcement
Make your house smell like fall, even if it is a million degrees outside, if you are yearning for it. We should enjoy the taste and aroma of pumpkin much more often than just at Halloween and Thanksgiving dinner. Why not have more pie, more often? I assembled a chocolate pudding pie for Mr. Sanders yesterday – he was so excited. I bet he’ll enjoy a pumpkin pie, in a couple of weeks, just as much.
Start the Pumpkin Spice Season off with your own custom pumpkin spice blend using 5 spices; ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground allspice and ground nutmeg: At Christmas I put a handful of a similar mixture in water in a small cast iron pan I keep bubbling away on the back of the stove, to make the house smell delish and seasonal. I lean heavily on the cloves. It is easy to adjust to your preferences.
If you have a coffee drinker in your house, why not save a few dollars and make a Starbucks-y pumpkin spice latte at home? You can save your hard-earned money now, to spend it on a sack o’candy corn in October. Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte
Make a special end-of-summer pancake treat this weekend – pumpkin spice pancakes. Even better are sweet potato pancakes – packed with nutrients and sweet smells – plus lashings of maple syrup. This is a measured way to start welcoming fall, even when you are still wearing flip flops. Be patient, autumn is just around the corner.
“August was smoking hot, then September walked in as cool as a cucumber, and made her presence felt.”
― Charmaine J. Forde
*FYI: Island Gondola shelving
** Candy corn ingredients Sugar, Corn Syrup, Confectioner’s Glaze (Shellac), Salt, Dextrose, Gelatin, Sesame Oil, Artificial Flavor, Honey, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 3.
