Here's What's Actually In 'Pumpkin Spice,' And It's Surprisingly Easy To Make

It’s officially autumn, and for the unapologetically basic among us (myself very much included), that means one thing: pumpkin spice everything. 

The iconic PSL (pumpkin spice latte) started in America, where pureed pumpkin is far more of a common ingredient. 

And while the ubiquitous Starbucks drink certainly uses the squash itself in its PSL sauce, the fragrant PSL topping, which is a dry mix that the company springles on the top of the drink, doesn’t contain pumpkin (just as “everything bagel” seasoning does not come with a doughnut-shaped bread).

Instead, it’s a mix of a few spices that you can make at home and sprinkle on everything from your French toast to your porridge (I highly recommend both).

What spices are in it? 

The blend includes ”cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves”. 

Their sauce uses six sticks of cinnamon (or around a teaspoon’s worth of ground cinnamon), one teaspoon of ground cloves, one teaspoon of ground ginger and two teaspoons of nutmeg. To mimic its sauce well, the pumpkin spice topping likely follows a similar ratio.

Of course, consider that all this is mixed in with 300g of granulated sugar, although that’s turned into a syrup. For an at-home dry mix, it might be worth using brown sugar for a more seasonal taste.

Bear in mind, too, that these are pretty pungent and powerful spices. The sauce recipe makes enough for eight beverages, so certainly don’t use it all at once.

What if I want to add pumpkin too?

Then you won’t be able to keep it a dry mix (unless you find some powdered pumpkin). 

You can, however, make the sauce by adding 300ml of water to 300g of sugar, adding four tablespoons of pumpkin puree and the spices we mentioned above to the water once the sugar’s dissolved, and letting it simmer for 20 minutes. 

Then, strain it with a cheesecloth. 

If you can’t get your hands on any pumpkin puree, you can cook a whole pumpkin and then mash its insides. If even getting a pumpkin is proving tough, similar veg. like mashed sweet potato, might scratch the itch. 

Anyway, I’m off to make some porridge...