It’s pumpkin spice latte season! I don’t usually buy fancy coffee beverages as I’d rather get the caffeine into my system without the extra sugar and fat, but I do enjoy at least one in September. I am one of those for whom the spicy aroma reminds me of fall, of wearing comfortable sweaters while enjoying brisk experiences in a landscape of oranges and yellows.
Did the “season” start with a pumpkin?
No, not at all. As mentioned below, the current craze started with Starbucks. The spice blend that makes up pumpkin pie spice is old, old and has been used for pies, cakes, cookies, yoghurt, ice cream, jerk chicken, pork rubs, chili, curries and much more. It is cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and cloves perfectly blended to whatever mix you desire. Some people leave out the cloves, others don’t bother with allspice. They may also use mace or star anise.
But the blend is much older than that. The roots of pumpkin spice can be traced back to the era of the Dutch East India Company. The components of today’s pumpkin spice blend, including cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mace and cloves, predominantly originated from the islands of Southeast Asia. Some of these spices were exclusive to specific island groups, which are now part of Indonesia and famously known as the Spice Islands. The location of these islands was a closely guarded secret, but in the early 17th century, the Dutch seized control of the Spice Islands. This acquisition played a pivotal role in the Dutch East India Company’s prosperity and facilitated the widespread dissemination of these aromatic spices.
If you want to learn more about the spice trade, I enjoyed “On Spice: Advice, Wisdom, and History With a Grain of Saltiness” by Caitlin PenzeyMoog. It’s full of excellent research and presented in a very informative conversational manner. PenzeyMoog is of the Penzey Spices family and shares family stories in addition to the history and use of spices.
Pumpkin Spice is everywhere!
You can find the spice blend in Spam and the scent in candles. Every sort of sweet snack company rolls out a pumpkin spice flavor in September, but whether they actually contain pumpkin isn’t promised in anything but coffee drinks.
Starbucks launched its pumpkin spice latte in 2003 as a test product and with limited availability. Great demand led to every other coffee shop coming up with their own version and today many people eagerly dive into that deep pumpkin puree lake of happiness as soon as September 1 flips over on their calendars. Shops have created iced, hot, dairy-free, apple-pumpkin and caramel versions.
Originally Starbucks didn’t use pumpkin in their lattes, but
gave in to consumer questioning in 2015 and added pumpkin puree. Today I find that most major coffee shops prominently mention the use of pumpkin in their lists of ingredients.
I found a pumpkin spice latte recipe in “Basic Bitchen” by Joey Skladany.* His recipe only uses one tablespoon of pumpkin puree and one-fourth teaspoon of the spice mixture per cup so a standard can of pumpkin will get you 15 lattes while you can get about 62 lattes from the spice blend. Skladany suggests using one-fourth to one-third cup of espresso so in my mind most of the buzz comes from the sugar and milk. There are other good recipes such as Simply Glorious 
Avocado Toast (calls for pickled red onion). I enjoyed this book; Skladany’s snarky humor is served up with spot-on tips and instructions. Plus a recipe for pumpkin pie; you will start your pumpkin pie out by baking a halved and cleaned out pumpkin. Serious old school! It’s also a chance to use up some of that leftover pumpkin spice blend, ’cause you don’t need to be drinking 62 lattes.
If you want to have a choice in pumpkin pie recipes, “Pie Academy” by Ken Haedrich has five pumpkin pie recipes as well as 250 other filling options. Learn how to make the perfect crust in multiple ways, including gluten-free, and see some clever ways to decorate a pie to impress any dessert table it graces. These are all sweet pies — fruit, nut, ice cream and custard. If you want a savory pie, Haedrich has written 15 cookbooks and one of them is “Dinner Pies” dedicated to savory pies.
I love chicken pies with plenty of chicken and flaky crust, and I may just have solved tonight’s “what’s for dinner?!” question. Everyone who makes pies have their own favorite recipes; I use almond flour in my roux to make a tastier and thicker gravy. You can explore savory pies in this part of our collection.
You are welcome to bring coffee into the library!
The Columbia Public Library’s Perk Desk does not offer lattes of any sort, but you can get a really good cup of coffee. We proudly serve a medium blend “Overdue Brew” as well as several others created by Lakota Coffee. The Callaway County Public Library and Southern Boone County Public Library are located fairly close to coffee shops as well. We welcome any drink that has a cover to limit spilling around the books and computers. Plus we have comfortable seating! Come find a great read and enjoy!
* I went through all the coffee recipe books currently in the Columbia Public Library, through several of our spice books and then onto the general cookbooks. When I found “Basic Bitchen,” I stopped looking. I was a bit flummoxed that it took that long.
