No pumpkin spice latte, cookie, candle, or seasonal can of Spam (yes, really) would be the same without one of its key flavors: nutmeg, a warm, woody spice grated from the seed of a tropical fruit. But back in the 1600s, nutmeg wasn’t so common that you could put it in everything from coffee to soap. In fact, nutmeg once grew only in one place in the entire world: the Banda Islands, a Pacific archipelago too tiny to even appear on regular maps. To get their precious nutmeg, European sailors had to brave a three-year journey filled with the possibility of shipwreck, storms, scurvy, dysentery, starvation, and death—so it's not surprising that the spice was so valuable that the crew weren't allowed to have pockets in their clothing, in case they smuggled some ashore for themselves! But how did one heroic Brit, Nathaniel Courthope, end up changing the course of nutmeg history—and, with it, the fate of not just pumpkin spice lattes, but also the city of New York? Listen now for the spicy, swashbuckling tale behind the season's favorite flavor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Yes, it's that special time of year where we voluntarily imbibe pumpkin spice lattes.
But what is strange is that pumpkin spice foods inexplicably seem to grow more omnipresent every year, even though there's no actual pumpkin in the drinks.
Come on, John, there doesn't have to be pumpkin in it.
It's all about the spice part.
But John Oliver is right that these days there's kind of pumpkin spice everything your favorite coffee made seasonal flavors are back.
So add some delicious coffee made pumpkin spice to your favorite time of the year.
In the past 2 hours, I had to go to like four different stores trying to find this pumpkin spice oreos.
So far, so basic.
But pumpkin spice doesn't stop with coffee and cookies.
Buff city soaps pumpkin Spice bar soap smells like a warm slice of grandma's famous pumpkin bread.
Smells so good you'll want to eat it.
But wait, there's more.
And I have to admit, I'm a little bit horrified.
If you love pumpkin spice, you're gonna love me.
Who said that?
Over here.
It's me, bud light's new pumpkin spice seltzer.
Crack me open.
Take a sip.
Pumpkin spice.