Happy Thanksgiving, Canadian friends!

If you’re curious about the history of Thanksgiving in Canada, here’s a post I wrote two years ago. And here’s a family recipe for butterscotch pie that you might like to try. I didn’t make one this year. Instead I’m making pumpkin pie; my kids even convinced me to use a whole pumpkin instead of a can of pumpkin puree.

That brings me to today’s topic. Last week a friend suggested I blog about the origin of pumpkin spice. She told me she was joking, but as soon as she said it I got curious. How did cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice became inextricably linked with pumpkin pie?

So I’ve compiled the basic timeline from a few articles I found online (sources listed below).

The History of Pumpkin Spice

1. According to Cindy Ott, historian and author of Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon, American settlers ate pumpkin as a last resort. “Pumpkin eater” even became a derogatory term for a poor farmer. (Side note: I wonder if this relates to the nursery rhyme “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater”?)
2. The first reference to spices used with pumpkin in an American cookbook is found in American Cookery by Amelia Simmons (1796). The recipe? “One quart of milk, 1 pint pompkin, 4 eggs, molasses, allspice and ginger in a crust, bake 1 hour.”
3. Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice were all actively used in baking by the time the first spice mill in the U.S. opened in 1821.
4. With the urbanization of the 19th century people became nostalgic for pumpkins, as seen in paintings and poems. E.g. Lydia Marie Child’s 1844 poem “The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day” begins, “Over the river and through the woods,” and ends, “Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!”
5. In the 20th century pumpkin stands, pick-your-own pumpkin patches, and pumpkin festivals became popular.
6. In 1926 an advertisement for “pumpkin pie spice” appeared in Baker’s Review.
7. In 1936 the Washington Post published a recipe for “Spice Cake Of Pumpkin Newest Dish: Delicacy Tempting to All Appetites and Easy to Prepare. Ideal Dessert for Family Dinner, Healthful for Children.”
8. In the 1950s McCormick began selling a blend of spices as “pumpkin pie spice.” (By the 1960s it was shortened to “pumpkin spice.”)
9. The first reference to pumpkin spice coffee appeared in 1996 in Florida.
10. A “pumpkin pie latte” was served by Purple Mountain Coffee in Colorado in 2002.
11. Starbucks introduced the Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL) as a seasonal flavour in 2003.

Sources

• “The Dark And Murky History Of Pumpkin Spice”
• “The Origin Of The Pumpkin Spice Latte”
• “The Surprising Reason Americans Are Obsessed With Pumpkins”
• “What is Pumpkin Pie Spice? Recipe, Lore, and More”

P.S. If you need a laugh.