Summer may not be officially over yet, but pumpkin spice season seems to have kicked off in full swing. Starbucks’ iconic pumpkin spice lattes returned to menus around the world on Aug. 24, and even amid a September heat wave in some parts of the country, drugstore aisles are already filled with decorative gourds and other autumn fare.
To usher in this flavorful time of year, the folks at Google Trends took a look at the many pumpkin spice foods that are trending across the U.S. Specifically, they put together a map revealing the most uniquely searched pumpkin spice foods in every state and the District of Columbia.
It turns out the folks in Arizona are interested in pumpkin spice Spam, while those in California are thinking about pumpkin spice Red Vines.
“When we think of pumpkin spice, one of the first items that come to mind are lattes,” Jenny Lee, lead data analyst at Google Trends, told HuffPost. “But pumpkin spice isn’t reserved for only drinks. It’s so interesting to see how pumpkin spice has evolved into so many products and different types of foods over the years. Pumpkin spice tacos and tamales were new combinations I’ve never seen before.”
The Google Trends team also identified some overarching categories of searches across multiple states, like cereal. Indeed, pumpkin spice Cheerios was the winner in five states, while pumpkin spice Special K dominated in Washington, D.C.
Google’s “uniquely searched” data refers to food items with the phrase “pumpkin spice” that showed a higher volume of searches in a given state compared to the country as a whole thus far in 2023.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, most states’ top unique searches involved something in the baked goods category, with pumpkin spice donuts and a variety of pumpkin spice cakes getting a lot of interest in places like Texas, New Mexico and Tennessee. There’s something about fall that makes people want to cuddle up at home and bake something delicious and aromatic.
Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re off to find a “pumpkin spice tacos” recipe to see if the people of Minnesota are on to something.