Wednesday?s Helping: Pumpkin Pie Spice

It?s the requisite in pie recipes, but what is it? Pumpkin pie spice is a mix of several different seasonings. The common ingredients included are ground cinnamon and ground ginger. McCormick?s, Trader Joe?s and Penzey?s are three major producers of pumpkin pie spice. Each producer adds other specific ingredients that can cause slightly different flavor outcomes in a baked pie so you may want to try each one and pick a favorite. Trader Joes, for example, adds lemon peel, cardamom, and cloves. Purchasing some pumpkin pie spice is a neat way to avoid buying excess amounts of (the at least four) different ingredients. Try sprinkling some pumpkin pie spice in coffee or hot tea.