As the summer trickles away and the first cool breeze blows through the trees, it feels like everyone descends into a pumpkin spice craze. Coffee, cereals, candy, donuts, and more fill stores up in the familiar orange packaging. It became a large boom capitalized every fall season. 

But what even is pumpkin spice? 

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, pumpkin spice is “a mixture of usually cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and often allspice that is commonly used in pumpkin pie.” For those who don’t know what allspice is, it’s a dried berry from the Pimenta dioica tree commonly used for fall desserts. 

Essentially, pumpkin spice does not have pumpkin. Its name comes from the fact that the blend of spices is used for pumpkin pie. 

The Beginning 

While anyone would like to dive right into who decided to mix these spices together or who decided to put them on the market, it’s important to know where these spices originated from. 

Most of the spices used today to make the pumpkin spice we all know are native to Southeast Asian islands. These islands were referred to as the Spice Islands. Some of these islands are part of Indonesia today. In the early 17th century, the Dutch took control of these islands. Because of this, the blend speculaaskruiden became popular in the Netherlands. It’s quite similar to the pumpkin spice we are used to, but it contains cardamom. 

The mix of spices continued getting popularized, even appearing in cookbooks. 

Pumpkin spice has been in American recipes for many years. Way before it got popular as a latte. Going back centuries, you can find the particular combination of spices to make pumpkin pie like in Amelia Simmons’ American Cookery cookbook. Though Simmons divided the combination between nutmeg and ginger, and allspice and ginger, it still proves how long this combination has been around. You can follow Simmons’ recipe here! 

However, it was in 1933 that Thompson & Taylor released a pumpkin spice pre-blended mix for bakers. The following year, McCormick released their own version, which is the one still most popular and used to this day. 

How It Became a Latte 

Starbucks was not the first to put pumpkin spice in a hot drink. In fact, records show that in a 1980 nutrition column for The Gazette, Jane Hope and Dr. Elizabeth Bright-See suggested the pumpkin spice blend as a substitute for sugar while still enhancing flavor. 

In the 1990s, there were multiple reports of coffee roasters starting to experiment with pumpkin spice for coffee. From Florida all the way to Pennsylvania, pumpkin spice started gaining traction. 

Of course, the big boom came from Starbucks when they introduced the PSL (pumpkin spice latte). In 2003, Peter Dukes managed the development of the PSL we now know today. After it hit the market, it blossomed into a big hit that everyone awaits each year when the fall season comes around. 

Is it Healthy? 

The spice blend on its own: it seems safe. 

The PSL? Short answer: no. 

After digging into the PSL ingredients, there’s about 39 grams of sugar in one drink, and this depends on the size you get. That’s way more sugar than you’re supposed to ingest for a whole day. The thing is that the PSL has a pumpkin spice sauce, which contains: sugar, condensed milk, and pumpkin puree, and vanilla syrup, which adds even more sugar. Let’s not forget about possibly adding whipped cream on top. It’s a sugar bomb in a cup. 

While I understand everyone may want to partake in the fall season fun and drink their favorite PSL, it might be good to try to find other alternatives to get into the fall spirit. Maybe you can try to make it yourself at home! Either way, I’m one who believes in moderation. As long as you don’t opt for a PSL everyday, you should be fine. But it is important to be mindful of what you’re ingesting and what people are selling you. 

Pumpkin spice has quite the history. Coming from the Spice Islands to now being all the rage in a latte sure proves how far it has traveled. It’s also interesting all the different ways it has been used. Are you using pumpkin spice this fall season?