This fall, say hello maple and so long pumpkin spice
Come on, admit it. You’re so over the pumpkinspice craze.
Seasonal beer, coffee drinks and cookies spiced with ginger, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon are one thing. But when those cozy fall flavors sneak their way into a Kit Kit candy bar or a stick of Burt Bees lip balm or onto a pizza, you know it’s officially jumped the shark. Big time.
Which is why some of us were glad to hear that a new flavor will supposedly supplant pumpkin spice this fall — maple.
At least that’s what MarketWatch would have us (hopefully) believe, based on a report from the analytics company 1010data. It notes that even as pumpkin spice flavor continues to grow in popularity — to the tune of 49 percent more products a year — sales just aren’t holding pace. Maple, meanwhile, “is surging.” Measured against the same quarter last year, sales of maple-flavored beverages have almost doubled while maple-flavored cocktails have climbed 14.6 percent. Which might explain why beverage giants Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts debuted maplepecan coffee drinks this fall. Dunkin’ also is featuring a 630-caloried Maple Sugar Bacon Breakfast Sandwich.
But is maple really the next big thing? And will its sweet, distinctive flavor be something that consumers naturally crave when the weather gets cooler?
Native Americans have used maple as a sweetener long before the first European ever set a boot on
North American soil.
Maple adds depth and a seasonal flair to mixed drinks. Veteran bartender Sean Enright’s new Take The Knee cocktail, for instance, marries maple with a house-made apple shrub, cognac and apple ginger syrup.
“People are just sick of pumpkin now,” he says, adding the flavor only is good until Thanksgiving and “then nobody cares.”
Autumn’s crop of fruits and vegetables call for deeper, richer flavors and maple — with its vanilla,
caramelly undertones — is happy to step up to the plate. While it is generally associated with breakfast items and desserts, maple can be a best friend to savory preparations, too, adding a robust flavor to roasted vegetables, soups and meats, especially bacon. It brings an all-natural sweetness to barbecue sauces, marinades, vinaigrettes, infused syrups, rubs, brines and glazes, and is just as good on a doughnut as a piece of salmon.
Katie Heldstab of Leona’s Ice Cream Sandwiches in Wilkinsburg, Pa., also is a maple fan. She and her wife, Christa Puskarich, are currently working maple into their fall flavors.
Maple’s natural sweetness, she says, along with its viscosity, makes us automatically think of sweater weather. And the fact it pairs so well with fall and winter flavors such as squash, pies, sausage and nuts is something of a seasonal trigger — despite the fact that the watery sap that gets boiled down into maple syrup and other products actually runs in spring.
“I try to not to pay too much attention to fads,” she says.
While all maple syrup is made according to the same process, there’s a grading system for maple products that differentiates between the natural variations in color and flavor. The lighter the syrup, the more delicate the taste. Sap processed later in the season produces a more robust and darker syrup.
However you enjoy fall’s hottest flavor, know that you’re making a nutritious choice. Not only is maple syrup high in healthful antioxidants but it also includes essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and manganese.