The onset of fall in North America means the pumpkin spice season is here and lots of spicy desserts.
2024 is no different and many Americans have been trying since late August those delectable spice lattes. They buy these at such outlets as Trader Joe’s, Starbucks and others or even make them at home.
Strangely enough, pumpkins only make a tiny bit in the form of a pie and the signature yellow tinge.
The spice part of the name comes from such ingredients as nutmeg, cnnamon, ginger and a pinch of cloves.
Key delicacies that people gorge away during the pumpkin spice season include cookies, spice-heath cake and milk latte.
In the pet department, pumpkin spices make dog food while in the non-edible category are scented soap and candles.
When Did Pumpkin Spice Season Begin?
Each September through November, the pumpkin pie spice becomes one of the hottest selling condiments in the U.S.
The tradition began in 1934 when McCormick company sold its first spice pie, which it still makes as a branded product.
5 years earlier at the onset of the 1929 Great Depression, canned pumpkin had made its way into consumer consciousness. The canned goodie helped make the late-coming spice mix acceptable.
But the pumpkin pie preceded canned and spiced pumpkins by almost three centuries in 1655, when pies embellished colonial cuisine.
When and Where is the American Pumpkin Harvest?
The pumpkin harvest in the United States comes in fall and provides the raw material for scary Jack-o-Lantern.
In actual terms, the North American gourd season culminates August through September with the harvest.
For those after “u-pick” services, then Ohio is the place to start, where patches are open for “you-pickers.”
Most farms are offering self-harvesters a fixed rate of $5 per pumpkin, which is a bargain compared to normal prices.
For non-u-pickers, the farm-gate rates range from $1.25 per small gourd to $40 for large ones.
So, the celebration of American pumpkins continues 90 years on since the invention of the sumptuous spice. And as the statistics below indicate, gourds are variously prominent in the U.S., from production to trade and consumption.
U.S. Pumpkin Statistics
The United States is a major producer of summer squash, winter squash, pumpkins and gourds. In relative terms, it ranks 5th in global production terms, at 1,025,777 tonnes, as of 2022, according to FAOSTAT. This is however only a 7th of China’s lead 2022 output at 7,439,924 tonnes. On a year-by-year basis, the U.S. has seen changing production trends. In 2021, for instance, the country harvested 1,063,438 tonnes of pumpkins, gourds and squash. While this volume reduced in 2022 to 1,025,777 tonnes, so did acreage, from 45,123 to 42,492 hectares.
Is the U.S. a net exporter or importer of pumpkins?
The United States exports less than it imports calabash family produce. Though it ranked 5th globally in 2022’s shipments, its exports at $60.6 million was only an 1/8th of its imports. Indeed, in 2022, it was the world’s top importer of gourds, squash and pumpkins at $479 million. This was double that of the runner-up, France, at $200 million, according to OEC.
What is the yearly pumpkin consumption per capita in the U.S.?
Americans eat pumpkins lushly if the yearly trend of at least 3.1 pounds per person per year are reliable indicators. The lowest consumption year since 2000 was 2015 at 3.1 pounds while the highest 2016 at 7 pounds per person per year. 2022’s per capita, on the other hand, averaged 5.6 pounds per person.