Pretending Pumpkin

Even pumpkins put on Halloween costumes for October. We’ve compiled some pumpkin myths below: prepare to find out the hard truth about your favorite seasonal gourd. 

1. Sippin’ on that Starbuck Pumpkin Spice Latte: it’s an espresso with pumpkin-flavored syrup and steamed milk. Though it’s a big year for this signature drink–the PSL is celebrating its tenth anniversary on the Starbucks menu–the pumpkin-ness of the latte is a phony. Yes, the drink has flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove resembling pumpkin, but it’s all in a shot of sugary syrup.  There’s no sprinkle of fresh pumpkin spice thrown into the espresso. But since it’s almost hibernating season and the drink is a decade old, treat yourself and celebrate with the hot drink.

2. It was once believed by Native Americans that eating pumpkins could remove freckles and cure snake bites. Though that has not been proven true, Sephora believes pumpkin can be beneficial to your hygiene with their Philosophy Homemade Pumpkin Pie shower gel. The formula cleanses the skin, leaving it soft and hydrated. While the pumpkin spice aroma is appealing to the senses, Sephora claims according to scientific research the aroma has been found to arouse men and women. Well, I don’t know about you, but when it comes to showering I like to smell fresh. And if the bottle smells that good you might just try to eat the shower gel thinking it’s pumpkin pie filing, and then you’ll get sick and my significant other will not be aroused. But on a cold, cold day the shower gel does bring about a warm sensation, so I guess just try to have some self-control and eat before you rinse, lather, repeat.

3. Though many refer to pumpkins as vegetables, especially when cooking, they are actually a fruit since they contain seeds.

4. The gourd lies in its starring film role as ‘The Great Pumpkin’ of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Linus spends his whole Halloween waiting around for ‘The Great Pumpkin’ which he believed would rise out of the pumpkin patch; fly through the air and bring toys to all the children of the world. So basically Halloween’s Santa, but sorry Linus, Santa can’t incarnate into a pumpkin. What a let down for a young boy. When you think about it Linus, trick or treating on Halloween and getting candy is way better than a toy anyway because there’s less sharing involved.

Though there seem to be a lot of phonies surrounding pumpkins, they say imitation is biggest form of flattery. So get pumped for pumpkins all fall long because they sure smell and taste good and are pretty punny too.