Pumpkin spice: Ways to get the flavor for yourself and your pup

The pumpkin spice invasion is in full force now.
You could pretty much eat three pumpkin spice-enhanced meals daily: there’s pumpkin pancakes or pumpkin cereal for breakfast, pumpkin soup for lunch, and pumpkin pasta for dinner. And that’s just at home.
“Restaurants are getting more creative with their pumpkin offerings this year, too, adding savory items like pumpkin vinaigrette, pumpkin curry, pumpkin black bean soup, and pumpkin ravioli,” Kevin Bryla, chief marketing officer at SpotOn, which provides software and payment systems for restaurants.
And, of course, you can cap off your meals with pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin flavored coffee or other drinks. Restaurants are experimenting with pumpkin spice espresso martinis and pumpkin spice boba beverages, he said.
You can even indulge your pets in the pumpkin spice trend. Chewy.com has pumpkin treats and supplements for cats and dogs. So does, Petco, which also has a limited supply of its new 4-foot Pumpkin Spice cup-shaped plush toy ($49.99), plus pumpkin T-shirts for your pets and other toys.
The spice experts at McCormick predicted the ascendance of pumpkin pie spice in its 2010 McCormick’s Flavor Forecast. Now, pumpkin spice “is so iconic it became synonymous to ‘fall’,” McCormick executive chef Hadar Cohen Aviramshe told USA TODAY. “Those warm spices immediately ground you in that mindset and brings up those warm experiences and memories.”
Here’s some of the newest items for those who love everything pumpkin.
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Pumpkin spice and caffeine is a combination that transcends Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Dunkin’ and Starbucks both have pumpkin spice coffee you can brew at home, too. Here’s more ways to perk up your joe with pumpkin flavor:
If pumpkin pancakes are your breakfast jam, it’s just about time to get your order in:
Pumpkin spices are a perfect match for baked goods and desserts. That’s because the blend of spices was originally created to flavor pumpkin pies.
McCormick’s Pumpkin Pie Spice blend combines “the Cinnamon’s sweetness, Nutmeg’s earthy nuttiness, Ginger’s peppery kick, and Allspice’s emphasizing qualities (to) create a warm, earthy, sweet, irresistible flavor that has undeniably earned its own place in the spotlight and in our hearts,” said Cohen Aviramshe, the brand’s executive chef.
Here’s some of this season’s harvest of pumpkin spiced cakes, cookies and other sweets:
Pumpkin pie and pumpkin donuts are just the start when it comes to pumpkin foods:
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