Pumpkin Spice 101
The history of the spice blend, pumpkin pie, and more!
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Pumpkin Spice History
I LOVE PUMPKIN SPICE - I fit the cliché and I’m not ashamed of it. Yearly I make my own spice blend at home to have on hand when autumn rolls in… This year, you can find that blend in a cutie little ceramic spice pot thanks to Halen Môn!
Although the spice blend is now synonymous with the Starbucks PSL, this mixture can be used for a lot more from drinks, desserts, to sweet and savory snacks and of course condiments. You’ll be able to find all of my recommendations below!
There’s a reason pumpkin spice is an ultra-American flavor. By definition, pumpkin spice is the blend used to flavor the Thanksgiving classic, pumpkin pie, and usually made up of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and cloves. Further, the Dutch literally gave Manhattan (New Amsterdam at the time) to the British for control of the Banda Islands, home to nutmeg. So all in all, we Americans should love pumpkin spice considering it gave us a significant chunk of our home turf.
The exact spices in the blend, however, were long known to Europeans prior to their discovery of pumpkin in the New World. Considering people will go as far as to say pumpkin spice is a personally trait and a lifestyle, we should then probably learn about where it came from? And how some of these spices made their way across the globe?
The Spice Trade
So you know that guy who sailed the ocean blue in 1492? Christopher Columbus?? Well he spent his nights dreaming of pumpkin spice. Although he arrived in America, his goal was actually sail to the Banda islands, a range of tiny Indonesian islands in the middle of no where in order to get his hands on the luxurious commodity of spice. At the time, the Pope had split the world in half so the West was for the Spanish, and the East for the Portuguese… So Christoper had to sail the opposite way, it was the only “legal/religious” direction he could go in!
Anyways, a bit more about these magical islands he dreamt of reaching. Home to nutmeg and cinnamon, and very nearby to where cloves are grown, the Banda islands were a fantasy of riches to foreigners. East Asian traders that knew of these islands literally GATEKEPT their location. They also made up these incredible stories of monsters protecting the island to ensure no foreigners would attempt travel there.
Spices in general were one of the first commercial products to be traded. The impact of their trade was so significant that they even helped provoke the rise of the mercantile class.
While the full history of spice is fascinating, it is also bloody and tragic due to colonialism and slave labor. Unfortunately as spices rose in popularity, so did the slave trade. While I won’t be able to get into the horrific slave labor surrounding the spice world due to time/space constraints in this newsletter, you can read more about it in depth here and here. It’s really quite unbelievable what people will do for wealth and control.
By the 11th century, these warming spices were finally coming into Europe via Venice. The process was long as they all individually were traded from person to person up until reaching Venice. This also meant that they were extremely expensive as every time they were passed onto a new trader, the price jumped even higher!
If you ever have the chance to go to Venice, notice the gorgeous palazzos on the water… A lot of these were paid for entirely due to the spice trade wealth.
While merchants became wealthy, the rich also used spices to show off their wealth by placing them in bowls around their home. Nutmeg was a particularly fancy schmancy spice to have around…
The Individual Spices
Although pumpkin spice is made from distinct spices, hence trees, a lot of them come from a similar geographical location. Let’s run through a brief description of them all.
Nutmeg
Nutmeg, as mentioned above, was one of the golden children of the fancy spice trade. Little did I know until researching for this newsletter but there’s a lot more than meets the eye with this little nut. Nutmeg is the nut of a fruit and when it’s ripe, the fruit will split open and uncover the nutmeg which is covered in a reddish netting. This “netting” is also called mace. YES, mace the spice! I had no idea they came from not only the same tree but also the literal same fruit?
The spice first arrived in Europe in the 12th century and boomed from there. Nutmeg was deemed so luxurious that mercantile sailors weren’t even allowed to have pockets on their clothes as to ensure they wouldn’t stuff their pockets with the spice to resell once home…
Nutmeg had long maintained its spice supremacy and in 1677, the Dutch Republic traded their territory of New Amsterdam, Manhattan today, in exchange for the Indonesian spice islands. Yes! Manhattan was traded for nutmeg control?!
Cinnamon
Another staple in the pumpkin spice blend is cinnamon, the inner bark of an evergreen tree. It’s actually one of the first ever known and traded spices in the ancient world with the first record of it stemming from 2800 BCE! By 200 BCE it was already being used as a way to make candles in India - by boiling it, you would obtain a wax meaning that it was most likely also the first ever scented candle! Learn more about it and about the differences between cinnamon and cassia here.
Cloves
Also coming from the spice islands, cloves are actually flower buds of the clove tree. The 4 little prickles around the round middle bit are actually just unopened petals! In the 1600s,, The Dutch East India company sought to maintain their monopoly on the spice by literally destroying any and all clove trees around the world that weren’t under their control in the Banda Islands. The French, however, found clove seedlings and smuggled these to Zanzibar where the terroir was suitable to
Allspice
Native to Mexico and the Caribbean, contrary to its name, allspice is one Individual spice. It is the dried unripe berry of the Pimenta dioica tree. Thousands of years ago, Mayans used allspice to flavor food and also embalm their dead. PSL spooky chic!
Pumpkin Pie
Since by definition, pumpkin spice has to do with the iconic pumpkin pie (my favorite American pie if I am being honest), let’s dive in o this guy quickly shall we?
First cultivated in 5500 BCE, pumpkins are native to the Americas (most likely in Oaxaca Highlands in Mexico). The first pumpkin pie, however, is NOT an American creation! Much to my surprise and delight, I recently discovered that the birthplace of pumpkin pie was most likely in France.
Although the pie was salty, the first ever written record of this Tourte of Pompion comes from “Le Cuisinier François” written by François Pierre la Varenne in 1653. Readers were instructed to boil the pumpkin in milk prior to adding it into the crust and then sprinkling it with sugar. Soon after in the real “land of pies”, English writer Hannah Woolley “Gentlewoman’s Companion” mentions another slightly sweet pumpkin pie with the inclusion of apples in the ingredient list.
It wasn’t until 1796 that the first classic American pumpkin pie recipe using the typical “pumpkin spices” was featured in Amelia Simmons’ famous cookbook, “American Cookery”.
An Abolitionist Symbol
Because the pumpkin was really easy to grow, it became a favorite of abolitionists as they could grow it without the help of any slave labor. Pumpkins became the antithesis of Southern plantation crops and their economies. Due to this, the pumpkin pie became a symbol of freedom and a highly celebrated food amongst abolitionists in the United States.
At first, Thanksgiving was mainly celebrated in New England. Luckily for us pumpkin pie lovers, abolitionist Sarah Josepha Hale sent a letter to Lincoln claiming that the holiday should be nationalized… he acquiesced, nationalized the holiday and the rest is history. Hale’s pumpkin pie is even featured in her 1827 anti-slavery novel “Northwood”.
Although the Confederates were reluctant to celebrate the holiday at first, Thanksgiving was soon after celebrated nationwide. Many families in the South were still opposed to making a pumpkin pie due to its symbolism so they chose to make sweet potato pies instead… failing to recognize the origins of the dish being Africa??
This holiday prompted the creation of canned pumpkin and spice blends to facilitate the pie-making process on the special day.
Whether you choose to celebrate thanksgiving or not, please consider the impact that the pumpkin pie as well as the spices have had on the United States. From female writers, cookbook authors to anti-slavery abolitionists, its history is sweet and significant.
The Basic PSL - The Pumpkin Spice Latte
This year marks the Starbucks PSL 21st Birthday. The drink was born out of a brainstorm session at the Starbucks HQ for a one-off autumnal beverage. Although hundreds of flavors were listed, they chose pumpkin spice (with no pumpkin in it) due to its “uniqueness” and its success flew beyond any expectations. After that first year of sales, it was evident that this would be a yearly addition.
This year, the first day of the PSL season was literally August 22nd…
If you’re like me and enjoy making your own PSL at home or baking with the spices, you can find my very own salty pumpkin spice blend with Halen Môn on their website here :) I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! HAPPY AUTUMN!
side tangent but the Dutch renamed new york to “New Orange” for the almost 2 years they were in control
so interesting that pumpkin is tied to abolition! side note: the various spellings of pumpkin are so cute??