Pumpkin (Spice) Flavored Food Fall 2022

To help everyone to get into a fall mood we will be looking at pumpkin (spice) flavored foods. You can find a large variety of different products out there to try. These are just a few I found this year 2022. At the same time on a lot of them I was disappointed in the flavor. I think if you are going to say that something is flavored like something then there should be no question to the flavor and it should hit you in the face. I buy pumpkin spice flavored items because I want to taste that.

Sprouts: Pumpkin Spice Spread

I did not know what to put this under. In theory you could spread this on anything. It was sweet, but not overpowering. We tried it on different chips and it worked really well. I would see this going really well with a brie cheese and you could even add some nuts. I would buy this again.

Pumpkin Gnocchi (Ada's)

This was a find in the frozen food section of Walmart for $7.98. It made enough servings for 2 adults to get a bowl full. Just the plain gnocchi was a little bland, but had a good flavor. To kick up the pumpkin experience for this I used a plain marinara sauce that I added pumpkin spice seasoning to. The combination was perfect. I would buy this again.

Bakery Goods

Starbucks: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin

I actually tried 2 different ones of these this fall. The first is pictured above and the second one I split with my mother. Both times the flavor was very weak, but on the one above it was really bland. The difference between the two was as much as if they were two different products. There was no consistency in the product which there should be for a major company like this. Even the one with more flavor was not strong on the pumpkin or the spice.

Dunkin' Pumpkin Spice Flavored Goods

At Dunkin' I actually tried a few different things from their pumpkin offerings. So first off the thing I found weird is that the doughnut and doughnut holes tasted different even though I assumed that they were made with the same batter. The doughnut had a stronger flavor then the holes, but it also had a harder fry/bake on it which can be seen in it being a different color. The inside though was also a different color that led me to believe that it had just gotten more spice. Both of them had the taste of cinnamon and that was about it. The muffin though was the star of the three. It was very pumpkin forward and less on the spice. Most of the time with pumpkin spice flavored things the pumpkin gets overpowered by the spice, but not in this muffin. In the pumpkin muffins I tried this was the best one.

Pumpkin Spice Pretzel (Pretzel Baron)

This was not a good experience, mostly because we ate them wrong. So I found these at King Soopers in their grab and go bakery section, right by the muffins. My mom and I wanted a quick snack as we ran around doing things. These were not a grab and go item and were supposed to go through a whole cooking process where you add a flavor packet to them and cook for awhile. We just dug in and then looked at the package when we noticed how dry and bland they were. We didn't end up finishing them by prepping them how the bag suggested because of time and just disappointment because of how they were sold in the store. For a snack food they just have too much prep needed for them. I wouldn't waste time or money to try them again.

Chocolate Pumpkin Bread (Ziggi's Coffee)

The problem that I had with this is how it was served impacted the who experience. The piece I had was kind of wet and cold like they had been trying to defrost it to serve it. It had a good pumpkin taste but was impacted by not being served correctly. Also the piece I had didn't really have any chocolate chips in it like the name would lead you to think. If you look at the picture you can see the one little chip it did have in the top right hand corner. I wouldn't recommend ordering this or any of the other breads at Ziggi's if the quality is similar.

Snacks

Mile Hi Popcon: Sweet Pumpkin Pie Popcorn

I love how mile Hi Popcorn comes up with different flavors each month. This one I was not a fan of though. To me it was just a caramel popcorn because they did not add enough of the flavoring. My mom liked it, because she likes caramel popcorn, but also agreed that there was hardly any flavor.

Pumpkin Spice & Churro Seasoned Plantain Chips

If you are going to get these make sure that you have something to drink. They really coated these in the powder flavoring/spices which was really drying to the mouth if you tried to eat them by themselves. Even with that coating the flavor was weak which was really odd. At the same time we got these at the same time we got the Pumpkin Spice Spread (from above) and dipped them in that. When you did that it was really good. These also came from Sprouts.

Pumpkin Spice Yogurt Pretzels

For the most part these just tasted like normal yogurt/white chocolate  pretzels. The flavor was really weak. If nothing the color of them was fun and they could look cute on a snack buffet. These also came from Sprouts.

Pumpkin Flavored Tortilla Chips (Maker's Mark)

Sometimes shopping when you are hungry is a bad idea. I was trying to grab a few things and saw things thinking that they would be a good snack. As soon as I got to the car I popped them open and before I knew it half of the bag was gone. I didn't get the pumpkin flavor, but the cinnamon and sugar on them was really good. I would buy these again. I found these at Sam's Club.

Pumpkin Spice Moon Pie

I will start out by being truthful and letting you know that I do not like Moon Pies in general. To me they are super dry, mostly bland, and just not a good food experience all around. I have never understood die hard fans of them. This Moon Pie was like all others in that it was so dry it felt like I had to drink something quick after eating it like I had just tried to chew on 10 saltine crackers. I will say that there was a slight pumpkin spice flavor, but it was not good enough to make up for the basic flaws that are a Moon Pie in general.

Cookies

Pumpkin Spice Oreo

So I found these at the Dollar Tree (not really $1, but actually $1.25). They were really good. It tasted like they took their normal cream and just dumped in a whole bunch of actual pumpkin pies to the mix. It was a good balance of flavor. At the same time I wonder what this cream would taste like on their normal chocolate cookies. I'd buy these again.

Candy

Pumpkin Taffy

You can nearly find taffy in any flavor you can think of. I found this taffy at Rocket Fizz in Aurora, Colorado. Too me this taffy had very little flavor in it and could have used some additional flavoring. Rocket Fizz does not make these and just sales them so they don't have control of the quality, or lack the Cocoa.

Pumpkin Pie Cotton Candy (Fun Sweets)

This was part of a Halloween set of cotton candies. I was not familiar with the brand, but you got 5 mini tubs for $5 or about $1 each before tax. If you would have put this in an unmarked bowl and told me to guess the flavor I would have said standard cotton candy. As you could have told me it was strawberry or any other flavor and I would have believed you. They could have dialed up the flavor so much on this. Yes it was good and sweet, but pumpkin pie it was not. I found this at Walmart.

Turkey Shapped Chocolate: Pumpkin Spice Latte (Splendid Chocolate, Limited)

I found these at Ross after Thanksgiving and they had been marked down from $6.99 to $1.49. This was the oilist chocolate I have ever eaten before. It left a weird coating in your mouth. It was so oily that it messed with my stomach. Then there was no pumpkin flavoring, and the spice flavor was bearly there. I would not by this again and I would actually question buying any other Splendid Chocolate,  Limited product after how bad this one was.

Deserts

Pumpkin Cheese Cake (Blackbear Dinner)

This was a pretty good tasting cheesecake. It had both the pumpkin and spice flavors. The problem is that it was $7.99. For that size it may have been worth $4.99 at max. I don't think they make it in house and it felt store bought. I don't know what brand it was if they did buy it pre-made.

Pumpkin Cheese Cake (Cuba Bakery & Cafe)

Of the food I have tried at this place, this was the first disappointing dessert I have had there. It was super bland and the only way you could tell it wasn't a normal cheesecake was the color and the decoration on it.

Foodish?

Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa Topper

Sort of food....these are sold for you to put on top of hot chocolate, but I could see these also being used on top of cup cakes. It really doesn't add flavor, but ups the cuteness. These are a Walmart store brand product.

I included this image so you can see what spices are used in pumpkin spice to give it the distinctive flavor we are all used to. 

Top Picture From: https://mommypotamus.com/pumpkin-pie-spice-recipe/

Bottom Picture From: https://lifemadesweeter.com/homemade-pumpkin-pie-spice/