Pumpkin Spice vs. The Tastes of Summer

It has become a showdown.

There’s the I-dream-of-pumpkin-spice-24/7 people, and there’s the Leave-my-summer-alone crowd. And they squabble about it on Facebook.

Like everything else.

I’ve got nothing against pumpkin spice. In fact, give me overcast skies, a bit of drizzle, a crisp breeze, and a fresh batch of crunchy leaves underfoot, and you’ll find me running to the kitchen to whip out a pan of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins faster than a coffee addict can say “half-sweet double-shot almond milk pumpkin spice latte.”

Still.

July is not the time to talk about pumpkin spice.

From Memorial Day to Labor Day there are some serious summertime food delicacies to be had and they need to be given proper attention. You’ve got your BBQ, complete with grilled steaks, burgers, kabobs and corn-on-the-cob, grandma’s famous potato salad, and every species of fresh fruit cobbler known to man.

Summertime also means fresh veggies springing from backyard gardens. Vine-ripened tomatoes, plump cucumbers, giant-leafed zucchini, and a whole spectrum of bush green beans.

And then there’s the u-pick options for those who like to venture out to their local farms with a tin bucket swinging from their fingers. There are strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. All. Summer. Long. And I haven’t even mentioned peaches yet. Peaches are the Crème Brulé of Oregon produce. Hands down, the most epic summertime food gathering pursuit happens in the peach orchard. Nowhere else do you get to search for juicy Furby-like fruit hidden in tree branches, like Easter eggs that you haul out with a sturdy metal wagon.

But summer flavors don’t end there.

We’d be amiss not to mention snow cones and ice cream, popsicles, and . . . Slurpees! Free from 7-11 on . . . you guessed it . . . 7-11.

But wait, there’s more!

You can’t talk about summertime foods without mentioning camping and the extensive menu of campfire-roasted favorites: hotdogs, fish-on-a-stick, chili cooked right in the can, pizza pockets baked in a pie iron, and marshmallows seared to golden perfection.

Leaving us all wanting s’more.

But enough about summer.

Fall has its merits too.

Besides offering cool relief from the sizzling heat, fall has its own list of tastes and smells that bring joy to our hearts. Yes, there’s pumpkin spice everything—bread, muffins, pumpkin cream cheese rolls, pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, pumpkin salsa . . . and this year I spotted something new: pumpkin spice Nissin cup noodles.

I’ll just leave that right there.

But pumpkin spice isn’t the only flavor we look forward to.

Fall is also chock-full of apples. And they come in a variety of colors and levels of sweetness and tartness to please any pallet, resulting in an assortment of delicious apple treats like fresh-pressed apple cider, baked cinnamon apples, apple cake, apple streusel, and caramel walnut apple pie.

But that’s not all! Fall is also known for its . . . um . . .

Halloween candy. Ah, the endless joys of sorting blocks of sugar wrapped in paper marked “fun-size” (the smaller the candy the more “fun” apparently) and arranging them like dominos or trading them like a game of Go Fish. Hide your candy, kids, because when the lights go out, the very people who tell you that you shouldn’t eat too much candy go on a crime-spree of burglarizing buckets, digging beneath the Twizzlers and Milk Duds in search of finer fare like Butterfingers and Heath bars to satisfy sugar cravings of their own. But don’t be too mad. They are just reliving their trick-or-treating years, borrowing your candy just like their parents used to.

And, finally, we can’t neglect the foremost fall food festivity of them all: Thanksgiving. That day is filled with an abundance of tastes and smells wafting from our tables, along with family heirloom recipes. Some of the most popular are turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry, sweet potatoes, and you guessed it.

Pumpkin pie.

The holy grail of pumpkin spice everything!

That brings us back to the debate: Pumpkin Spice vs. Tastes of Summer.

Which is better?

Truth be told, I think most of us enjoy both—the summertime fare and the flavors of fall. Each in their proper time.

It’s about seasons.

Predictable dependable change.

There is a familiarity that comes with each new season. Just as winter, with its cup of hot cocoa and candy canes, steps out of hibernation to welcome spring, when seeds begin to sprout and nests filled with eggs hatch new life, so goes summer and fall.

We thrive on routine, but we also long for things to be made new. There’s a refreshment that comes with a change in seasons, a familiarity that sparks nostalgia when we are reminded of similar times in our past. Tastes and smells that bring back memories of years gone by and the people with whom we’ve enjoyed such times—some of whom are no longer with us.

The Bible speaks of seasons. “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to harvest.” (Eccl. 3:1,2). The verses go on to compare all kinds of things life brings in season, such as:

“A time to mourn and a time to dance.”

“A time to keep and a time to throw away.”

“A time to be silent and a time to speak.”

“A time for war and a time for peace.”

We learn that the same Creator who set the sun, moon and stars in the sky, and hung the earth on its axis—setting the seasons in motion—is also a very personal God, who has purposed the seasons for our growth as well as our refreshment.

The writer concludes: “He has made all things beautiful in its time.” (Ecc. 3:11)

For followers of Christ, this is our ultimate hope—that whatever comes our way in and out of season, He promises to bring beauty from ashes, victory from despair.

As the seasons march on, we all have moments when we crave things we have not had in a while.

Some dream of pumpkin spice in June, suggesting we bypass July and August and head straight for September and the nearest Starbucks.

Others shiver beneath gray clouds in February, longing for the warmth of the sun, strawberry shortcake, and a giant fireworks display.

For now, in October, I’ve got one thing on my mind.

Corn maze, anyone?

Jen♡