What's the best part about Halloween? Some may say the costumes, but ask any kid and they'll tell you it's the candy candy candy candy CANDY! And it's hard to argue with candy! But there is one thing that both kids and adults love about this time of year.

Go to a Starbucks in America during the fall, and you will probably hear somebody order a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Go to a supermarket, and you will see Pumpkin Spice everything. But here in Japan, it's nowhere to be found.

Now, you might be thinking...辛いかぼちゃ？まずそう！But no! First off, that would be 'spicy pumpkin.' Secondly...Pumpkin spice actually does not have any pumpkin in it!

So, uh, why would you call it 'pumpkin spice' if there's no pumpkin? See, pumpkin spice is a mix of spices -- recipes can be found online, but they usually include cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves -- that is often used to make pumpkin pie. And yes, pumpkin pie DOES contain pumpkin. It is also the king of all pies.

I'm not sure about the origin, but it seems like Starbucks made the idea of putting pumpkin spice into a latte popular. It is certainly one of their most popular seasonal drinks, if not THE most popular. And the idea took off from there. Now you can find all kinds of drinks and sweets with seasonal pumpkin spice varieties.

Curious? You can make some here in Japan, and homemade always tastes better anyway! Here's a recipe from

Just mix all these together:
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves

Add it to whatever, but I recommend cakes, cookies, pancakes, hot chocolate, and of course, coffee!

--Josh