I avoid controversy. I don’t like to debate politics. You won’t catch me bringing up religion at a dinner party. But on one point I can no longer hold my tongue.
Sometimes you just have to take an unpopular stance.
I don’t like pumpkin spice.
It’s icky and tastes like a candle. Plus, every time I type it, I accidentally add a “g” to the end. Pumpking spice, if it existed anywhere outside a typo, probably would be even yuckier than pumpkin spice.
There. I said it. Go ahead and snooze me on Facebook and take me off your Christmas card list.
Knowing it’s not enough to simply make a divisive statement like this, I did what any sane person taking a controversial stand would do. I sought validation on social media. It came quickly.
“Pumpkin spice tastes like nutmeg and lies,” said Marcus Darnell, the jovial proprietor of Chumley’s Depot in downtown Melbourne.
“Pumpkins are for decoration, carving and gigantic slingshots at the fair,” said former FLORIDA TODAY colleague Deidre Comegys.
“Is it too soon for pumpkin spice fatigue?” said Cocoa chef extraordinaire Katherine Fridl.
The expected dissension was there, too.
“I don’t know if we can be friends,” said Nadine Yaroma Smith, a fellow food enthusiast who obviously has a penchant for the spice blend.
“Suzy, I am so disappointed in this opinion. Pumpkin spice is God’s spice. I will pray for you to come around on this issue. Your soul might be at stake,” said Steve Doug Mardis, the jovial proprietor of Merritt Island Pancake House and My Island Pancake House in Rockledge. (Don’t worry, folks. I gave his comment a laughing emoji, not an angry emoji. We can disagree and still be friends.) “First let me work through what I read and stop judging you,” said the ever-amusing Merritt Islander, Kimberly Powell Newton. “I even bought a blow up pumpkin outfit for Halloween — the plan is to walk around with some cinnamon and be ‘Pumpkin Spice,’ the best of all the Spice Girls.”
Mostly, though, I felt popular. That post admitting my aversion to pumpkin spice and asking for fall flavor alternatives resulted in more than 100 comments in about 90 minutes.
Apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, salted caramel, pecans, bourbon and apple cider dominated the discussion.
“Fireball,” said Kim Bellucci Hone of Merritt Island, who’s always up for trouble and fun. “Oops, I mean cinnamon beverages.”
Fall for Jessica Cartagena Assam of Melbourne means vanilla, nutmeg, caramel, cinnamon and creme brûlée. “I hate pumpkin spice too.”
Aaron M. Zook, a former local theater geek who left the area ages ago to become a New York theater geek, harkens back to family traditions to find the flavor of fall.
“Cardamom,” he said. “My Finnish relations typically only made pulla (sweet cardamom bread) when the weather got cooler. It’s made year-round in Finland, but I imagine the typical Floridian would wear a sweater in Helsinki in July.”
Of course, fall isn’t just about the sweets, said Molly Winsten, a Brevard girl who is making a name for herself in the Boston culinary world.
“Don’t forget the savory — sage, thyme are great, as are other warming spices like curry and chili,” she said.
Lots of people mentioned chili and thick, meaty stews. I don’t disagree. As a Louisiana girl, the first touch of cool in the air signals time to pull out the gumbo pot.
Then there are things like butternut squash and root vegetables, all things warm and hearty.
And let’s not forget all the fall craft brews being introduced right now in area breweries, plus other sippers like chai tea, Russian tea and hot chocolate.
I even got a couple of ideas for the fragrances of fall, like the Warm Tobacco candle recommended by chef Jacqueline Sampson of Pompano Grill in Cocoa Beach.
“Cinnamon Broom Smell!!” said world traveler Ashley Stanley.
Or not ... “I dislike pumpkin spice anything and those cinnamon brooms,” said Patti Sponsler, one of my favorite frequenters of Rockledge Drive on Saturday mornings.
The suggestions were super helpful. With temperatures hovering near 90, it’s not easy to find fall in Florida. Just ask my Cocoa pal, Bob Socks.
“It’s not fall today. It’s 90 degrees out and I’m going swimming,” he said, indicating he might add pumpkin spice flavor to the pool.
And I’m glad that in this season of discord, we can have a civil conversation on a topic that stirs passion.
Only one comment served as a trigger, giving me flashbacks to last year and a heated back and forth about a certain Halloween candy.
“Mmmmmm, candy corn,” said Tony Boylan, a former FLORIDA TODAY reporter now working in Chicago. “Everyone LOVES candy corn.”
But that’s an argument for another time.