- By Ashley Ricks, Staff Writer -
Oreos, Pop-Tarts, Cheerios, Milanos, Planters Almonds, Land O’Lakes Butter, Quaker Oatmeal, Peeps, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Peanut Butter & Co. Peanut Butter, and Pepperidge Farm Bread all have one thing in common: their products have the limited edition flavor of pumpkin spice. Whenever people go to the grocery store between the months of August and November, it seems that almost every product in existence has jumped on the pumpkin spice bandwagon. There is nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy an occasional pumpkin spice latte, but the flavor seems to have taken over the fall season. People anticipate the pumpkin spice season so much that products come out with the fall flavor earlier and earlier every year.
The first day of fall is Sept. 22, but most companies released their pumpkin spice products long before that. Pepperidge Farm came out with their pumpkin spice bread in late August, which begs the question: is pumpkin spice really a fall phenomenon or a pop culture phenomenon? The obsession over pumpkin spice started with Starbucks’ drink, the Pumpkin Spice Latte. The mania over this Starbucks’ drink has even led to the latte having its own Twitter and Instagram account. I believe it’s okay to enjoy a few pumpkin spice products, but food brands have put too much emphasis on this fall flavor. Food with fall flavor should not be consumed until the first day of fall, and only items that go with pumpkin spice should be allowed on the market!
Our culture has too much of an investment with anything pumpkin spice related. There is no reason companies should sell a fall product earlier than the actual fall season. The worst part about pumpkin spice is that there is no evidence of any pumpkin in the actual spice! The pumpkin spice seasoning found in grocery stores is typically made with ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, and ground cloves. Society raves about pumpkin spice, but do you really want to eat butter that tastes like cinnamon and nutmeg, or does society want you to have butter that supposedly tastes like fall?
Photo from Business Insider