When it comes to fall flavors, the first things that pop into your mind include pumpkin spice latte, apple pie, and possibly even butternut squash soup. Although I’m not one to deny a yummy fall dessert, there’s so much more to fall food than pumpkin spice.
In various countries across the globe, cold weather and fall festivities mean the arrival of comfort food in its best form. So here are the top five fall foods from around the world that could give your usual fall menu a makeover.
Japan: Yakiimo
With an ideal fall snack that is hot, sweet and uncomplicated, yakiimo should certainly be one of them. Yakiimo refers to Japanese sweet potatoes which are roasted slowly until they become crisp on the exterior and extremely soft and sweet inside. Contrary to sweet potato dishes in America, you don’t need butter, brown sugar or even marshmallows to make them taste like a dessert.
Sweet potatoes are very much linked with autumn in Japan and yakiimo has been a favorite of the season for many years. Traditionally, roasted sweet potatoes would be offered by street vendors who sold them out of their carts or trucks. This made them the best snacks to purchase while out during cold weather. In case you’re looking for a simple alternative to all those super sweet pumpkin foods that come during fall, try yakiimo first.
MĂ©xico: Pan de Muerto
One of the most familiar foods related to the DĂa de los Muertos holiday is the pan de muerto, which is soft bread that’s usually eaten around the time of the holiday. This is a bread with a flavor of orange peel or orange blossom water with sugar on top. The decorations of the bread, in the form of pieces of bread in the shape of bones, are also representative of the celebration of death and the holiday.
However, the pan de muerto is much more than just a treat for the season. It can be used by families on the altars that are made in memory of their deceased family members, or it can be consumed as a family at the DĂa de los Muertos parties. Enjoying pan de muerto can help people to appreciate the fall holiday tradition and its culture at the same time.
South Korea: Hotteok
Think about going out on a chilly day and receiving a nice pancake with melted brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts. This is the idea of hotteok, a widely consumed street food in Korea which becomes all the more delicious during the cold months of the year. A mixture of sweet fillings is put inside of dough which is then placed on a griddle and cooked until the outer surface of the hotteok becomes crispy, and the inner one is gooey.
One of the reasons why hotteok is such an excellent fall food is the fact that it has to be consumed immediately after it’s made. The combination of cinnamon, brown sugar and hot dough already provides us with many flavors which we love about fall, yet presented in a whole new way from our usual cinnamon rolls and pumpkin pies. Beware of the first bite, though the melted sugar inside is rather hot.
Italy: Castagnaccio
Although pumpkin takes center stage in America in autumn, there is one other food item that has to be duly acknowledged. In the preparation of something called castagnaccio, the Italians use chestnuts in what can be regarded as an Italian cake made of chestnut flour. The list of ingredients could include such things as raisins, pine nuts, walnuts, rosemary, and olive oil.
Do not expect from castagnaccio any extreme sweetness typical for birthday cakes. Castagnaccio has a more subtle and earthly taste with chestnut sweetness complemented by savory olive oil and rosemary. If you’re the kind of person that always complains about the excessive sweetness of desserts, then perhaps this is your ideal fall dessert.
India: Gajar Ka Halwa
While carrots may not come to mind immediately while thinking of ingredients for desserts, this one might change your thoughts. Gajar ka halwa is an Indian dessert where grated carrots are cooked along with milk and sugar to produce something soft and almost pudding-like in texture. Additional flavors from cardamom and ghee along with some added nuts like almonds or cashews can enhance the taste.
This particular dessert is quite popular during colder weather conditions since carrots happen to be in season during these times in India. It can be served hot and the combination of cardamom, milk, nuts and sweetness is what makes it just perfect during colder weather. It is proof that there are many desserts that need carrots besides carrot cake.
Enjoying the season through an apple cider doughnut or pumpkin spice latte is completely fine and dandy. However, there’s a whole lot more that fall flavors have to offer, and there’s plenty of ways that other cultures around the globe celebrate the season that don’t involve pumpkin, cinnamon, and maple.
From snacking on a Korean hotteok to roasting some sweet potatoes in Japan or sharing pan de muerto, breaking away from the traditional fall snacks that you enjoy each year could give you a brand new taste experience that you’d never get otherwise. Therefore, this year when enjoying the autumnal flavors, take into consideration trying one of these five foods.