Pumpkin Spice-Palooza

A Taste of Autumn

It’s officially Fall. Time to bring on pumpkin spice, well, everything.A

But don’t let those tastebuds fool you, there’s no pumpkin in that pumpkin spice.

Oh. My. Gourd.

How Did We Get Here?

First pumpkin spice reference dates back to 1796, but it was McCormick & Co. who brought it to store shelves in 1934.

McCormick usesA cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg & allspice – not pumpkin.

Starbucks debuted its pumpkin spice latte in 2003, which is credited for the craze as we know it today.

"It represents a sense of goodness, natural abundance and old values that people think are good.”


Cindy Ott, author of ‘Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon, on how Americans have used pumpkin pie & the spices in it to maintain connections to nature and our country's beginnings. America is the only country in the world that consumes pumpkin as a seasonal food or drink.

Peak Pumpkin Spice?

• Americans spent $500M on pumpkin-flavored food in the last year, a new all-time high & up 15% vs. 2017.
• A In 2005, pumpkin-flavored items were on 6% of U.S. restaurant menus. By 2015, the number grew to 14.5%, with the most in the northeast.
• Fastest growing pumpkin-spiced product? Dog food. Seriously.

Starbuck’s sprang forward this fall, debuting its famed pumpkin spice latte in late August. The #PSL drink, now in its 15th year, does include actual pumpkin puree and even has its own Twitter account (@TheRealPSL) boasting 110K followers.