Stop it With the Pumpkin, Already!
If the United States can go overboard, it will. If the rest of the world can copy it, it will, too. Not only does the rest of the world copy the clothes, it also copies the foods. Fast foods of all kinds, with all different kind of flavors, have appeared all over the world. Fast food franchises, from McDonald's to KFC, to even Dunkin' Donuts, have opened up in a great number of foreign cities.
When a craze appears in the U.S., it spreads everywhere, and touches everything. I have read that pumpkin flavored foods are in every supermarket once September hits. Some of the foods thus flavored are too weird to even think about. Pumpkin pie cheesecake ice cream? Greek pumpkin pie yoghurt? Pumpkin spice English muffins? Pumpkin spice coffee creamer? Pumpkin spice liqueur? Pumpkin spice cream cheese spread? Pumpkin wine?? Mexican chile pumpkin mole?? Pumpkin spice Kahlua?? Pumpkin pie spice butter spread?? Pumpkin spice puffed corn???? Have we gone insane with the pumpkin?
Well, the craziness has spread to Spain, particularly to a brewery here in Galicia, Estrella Galicia. It has a decent general product, and is now trying to break into specialty beers. With a pumpkin and vanilla flavored beer. I have tasted beer with raspberry flavor, and with tequila and lime flavor. More than beers, they were like the wine spritzers back in the late 1980's. Simply soda with a kick. I have also tasted an artesenal beer brewed with sea water, apparently. I don't want to repeat the experience. But pumpkin and vanilla?
Apparently, they've also made beer flavored with Padrón peppers (a variety of small green peppers grown in our region), which sounds like it might be spicy hot. Another they've made (at least it's on their website, I've never seen it in stores) is one flavored with percebes, or goose barnacles. While I won't say no to a good plate of percebes or Padrón peppers, I prefer the beer on the side, not mixed. But pumpkin? Have we gone bonkers copycatting the worst of the American food experience?
Have our tastebuds gotten so overwhelmed that we must continuously try to find the strangest combinations possible? Most of this is not even natural food. The beers do seem to have been brewed with what gives them its flavor, though I have my doubts about adding pumpkin puree to the brewing process.
Few processed foods have a natural flavor. Most of it comes from chemicals added in the process to make it palatable. I checked my pantry and I realized that since my high blood pressure was diagnosed, I don't have that much processed food anymore. I do have a packet of low-salt crackers I use when I make soup. They have aroma natural de aceituna. (Natural olive flavor.) Why? It's not necessary. Unless they added it to offset the lesser salt. But what is it composed of? Crushed olives? Somehow, I doubt it.
Much of the above American food infused with pumpkin flavor I mentioned, is superfluous. Do we really need coffee creamer? I haven't seen it in Spain. It's a simple act to add natural milk to coffee. It tastes better, too. The butter flavored with pumpkin? Please, the flavor of natural butter (salted, preferably, though no longer for me) is amazing on its own, and adds wonderful roundness to foods. A normal English muffin, toasted and buttered, or with jam, is a wonderful memory from my adolescence. It didn't need to be flavored; I added the requisite flavor myself. The cream cheese. I don't know just how processed it is to begin with, but if you need flavor added to it, just add some clipped chives which you can grow on a window sill. Or add a small piece of smoked salmon.
Of course, all the added flavors are much more intense than the natural flavors of things. But if we become dependent on those flavors, then the foods we elaborate with primary ingredients become dull in comparison, and we can't find the delicacy and delight with our tongues in recipes our grandparents used for feast days. Mostly, because for our tongues, every day is a feast day. So, put down the pumpkin corn puffs, and pop some corn from scratch, instead. Add your own melted (non-flavored) butter to it, or salt. Put down the Greek pumpkin pie yoghurt. Get a natural Greek yoghurt and add some maple syrup (if you can't stand the sourness), and some nuts and berries, or cut-up fruit. Go back to what nature offers and rediscover what things really taste like.
If you like pumpkin, make a pie from scratch. Yes, cut up your own pumpkin, cook the pulp, and then follow a recipe (if pastry isn't your forte, there's prepared pie crusts out there) to make your own pumpkin pie that tastes better than any added pumpkin flavoring you can find.
But, please, keep the pumpkin away from the beer. Please.
When a craze appears in the U.S., it spreads everywhere, and touches everything. I have read that pumpkin flavored foods are in every supermarket once September hits. Some of the foods thus flavored are too weird to even think about. Pumpkin pie cheesecake ice cream? Greek pumpkin pie yoghurt? Pumpkin spice English muffins? Pumpkin spice coffee creamer? Pumpkin spice liqueur? Pumpkin spice cream cheese spread? Pumpkin wine?? Mexican chile pumpkin mole?? Pumpkin spice Kahlua?? Pumpkin pie spice butter spread?? Pumpkin spice puffed corn???? Have we gone insane with the pumpkin?
Well, the craziness has spread to Spain, particularly to a brewery here in Galicia, Estrella Galicia. It has a decent general product, and is now trying to break into specialty beers. With a pumpkin and vanilla flavored beer. I have tasted beer with raspberry flavor, and with tequila and lime flavor. More than beers, they were like the wine spritzers back in the late 1980's. Simply soda with a kick. I have also tasted an artesenal beer brewed with sea water, apparently. I don't want to repeat the experience. But pumpkin and vanilla?
Apparently, they've also made beer flavored with Padrón peppers (a variety of small green peppers grown in our region), which sounds like it might be spicy hot. Another they've made (at least it's on their website, I've never seen it in stores) is one flavored with percebes, or goose barnacles. While I won't say no to a good plate of percebes or Padrón peppers, I prefer the beer on the side, not mixed. But pumpkin? Have we gone bonkers copycatting the worst of the American food experience?
Have our tastebuds gotten so overwhelmed that we must continuously try to find the strangest combinations possible? Most of this is not even natural food. The beers do seem to have been brewed with what gives them its flavor, though I have my doubts about adding pumpkin puree to the brewing process.
Few processed foods have a natural flavor. Most of it comes from chemicals added in the process to make it palatable. I checked my pantry and I realized that since my high blood pressure was diagnosed, I don't have that much processed food anymore. I do have a packet of low-salt crackers I use when I make soup. They have aroma natural de aceituna. (Natural olive flavor.) Why? It's not necessary. Unless they added it to offset the lesser salt. But what is it composed of? Crushed olives? Somehow, I doubt it.
Much of the above American food infused with pumpkin flavor I mentioned, is superfluous. Do we really need coffee creamer? I haven't seen it in Spain. It's a simple act to add natural milk to coffee. It tastes better, too. The butter flavored with pumpkin? Please, the flavor of natural butter (salted, preferably, though no longer for me) is amazing on its own, and adds wonderful roundness to foods. A normal English muffin, toasted and buttered, or with jam, is a wonderful memory from my adolescence. It didn't need to be flavored; I added the requisite flavor myself. The cream cheese. I don't know just how processed it is to begin with, but if you need flavor added to it, just add some clipped chives which you can grow on a window sill. Or add a small piece of smoked salmon.
Of course, all the added flavors are much more intense than the natural flavors of things. But if we become dependent on those flavors, then the foods we elaborate with primary ingredients become dull in comparison, and we can't find the delicacy and delight with our tongues in recipes our grandparents used for feast days. Mostly, because for our tongues, every day is a feast day. So, put down the pumpkin corn puffs, and pop some corn from scratch, instead. Add your own melted (non-flavored) butter to it, or salt. Put down the Greek pumpkin pie yoghurt. Get a natural Greek yoghurt and add some maple syrup (if you can't stand the sourness), and some nuts and berries, or cut-up fruit. Go back to what nature offers and rediscover what things really taste like.
If you like pumpkin, make a pie from scratch. Yes, cut up your own pumpkin, cook the pulp, and then follow a recipe (if pastry isn't your forte, there's prepared pie crusts out there) to make your own pumpkin pie that tastes better than any added pumpkin flavoring you can find.
But, please, keep the pumpkin away from the beer. Please.
Great post, Maria! Fortunately, the Netherlands isn’t quite so Halloween obsessed so we don’t have as many fearsome food flavours. The most we have is decorated front steps with pumpkins and assorted autumn harvest items.
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