Every year, a flavor takes the nation by storm, reinventing recipes with a spicy, fall favorite. Coffee, tea, baked goods, oatmeal – there’s practically no limit to what product its essence will touch next. Of course, we’re talking about Pumpkin Spice. It seems like you can’t step outside without encountering the aroma and the flavor that has become synonymous with the later seasons of the year. But how did this phenomenon begin? You might think that it was started by a large specialty coffee chain, but while certain companies are responsible for the explosion of popularity the flavor has seen in recent years, it’s been around much longer than that.

The official Pumpkin Spice flavor began as a shortcut to baking a pumpkin pie. In 1934, the combination of ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon was first sold to make baking this harvest season dessert an easier endeavor. But then why was it so important to make a pumpkin pie? Although it certainly has earned its place at the dinner table, it’s not as if the dessert is wildly sought after. In order to understand why people were ever making pumpkin pie to begin with (and continue to this day), we need to go back even further to when the Americas were first colonized.

When Europeans first came to the new world, they brought with them crops from their native land. However, those crops found it difficult to take root here, and colonists soon needed to turn to alternate means of sustenance. One of the first, most successful crops that they grew was the pumpkin. It’s no wonder why classic images of Thanksgiving tables prominently display gourds; there was almost little else to eat for many harvests.

Shortly after the pumpkin craze began, colonists began making a very early version of pumpkin pie, which consisted of chopping off the top of a pumpkin, scooping out the innards, and filling the gourd with spices, honey, and milk. That mixture would become the pie’s crust. This sweet harvest classic became a tradition over those hundreds of years, becoming a symbol of the rich fruits of our labors and the promise of another bountiful harvest to come.

Since those years ago, the pumpkin has continued to be a celebrated crop amongst Americans, used as decoration throughout the fall season and as an ingredient that reminds us of the harvest’s comfort. The modern commercial sale of Pumpkin Spice is just an extension of that connection that we inherently understand based on our long history with the gourd.

There’s no doubt that pumpkin’s annual surge in popularity can also be attributed with the scarcity of the flavor throughout the year. Although somewhat manufactured, this limited availability continues to drive sales of Pumpkin Spice and Pumpkin Pie flavors whenever the fall season rolls around. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that pumpkin, in all of its forms, holds a deeply sentimental place in our culture.

With that deep history in mind, take the opportunity to rediscover your love for pumpkin, whether it’s pie or spice, with Houston’s products like Torani, Monin, Big Train, and DaVinci. Enjoy this seasonal flavor with a newfound understanding of its origination, and do it while supplies last!