Maple Is the New Pumpkin Spice

After doing another week of pumpkin spice tasting, for the fifth (at least) year in a row, I’ve decided it’s time for a change. I think they are running out of new ideas, so they’re starting to put pumpkin spice into foods that should never be pumpkin spice flavored. Like pasta sauce. And mac and cheese. And hummus. Yuck.

I don’t think the problem is with the pumpkin. It’s the spice. Pumpkin on its own could probably work pretty well in a lot of these applications, but pumpkin spice is another story. I don’t want cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, sugar, and whatever else that particular spice is made of in my sauce or mac and cheese. I don’t even want it in my coffee, no offense to those of you that wait anxiously all year for that pumpkin spice latte.

So, here’s my idea for a replacement. Maple. It’s already proven itself to work with all kinds of breakfast foods. Bacon, sausage, pancakes and waffles. I spent my whole childhood not liking maple, only to find out I never had real maple syrup. It was always “pancake” syrup. Big difference. So I have lots of years of maple eating to make up.

What do you think? Maybe we could at least give it a try. For one year. If it doesn’t work, we can always go back to pumpkin spice. Or you can. I think I’ve had my fill.