If you follow US food bloggers online, I’m sure you’ve noticed that around October-September comes the requisite, seasonal post: something with pumpkins. It’s like clockwork, and this year I’ve seen a lot of pumpkin soups, in particular. Just when we in the southern hemisphere are celebrating the imminent arrival of spring with peas and artichokes and strawberries, our antipodean friends embrace ‘Fall’ flavours. My recent US trip coincided not only with Fall, but also Hallowe’en, and so many homes in DC and New York were festooned with cobwebs, ghosts and jack o’lantern pumpkins.
And food industry follows suit! Every shop and market I visited offered something pumpkin flavoured. I’m not particularly keen on following a trend for trend’s sake, but I do see the appeal in the use of pumpkin, generally a savoury food, in sweet products. It’s brings great colour, its own inherent sweetness and, well, I really like pumpkin.
Here are some examples of pumpkin mania seen on the shelves of shops in DC and New York:
